Patrick Sandford’s Return to Perth Theatre: A Directing Life

‘Definitely the actors,’ says director Patrick Sandford, recalling his first impressions of Perth Theatre forty years ago as a trainee under artistic director Joan Knight. ‘There was almost a resident company, Janet Michael, Martyn James, Alec Heggie, John Buick… They were all very kind to me and patient with my lack of experience, perhaps because they could see how thrilled I was to be there. Every single day I was learning something new.’

Knight’s front-of-house discipline made an equal mark on the young director.

‘I also saw immediately how my boss, Joan Knight, respected her audience,’ says Sandford. ‘There was no social media then. She always stood in the foyer after the performance with the line of ushers, to say “goodnight and thank you” to patrons as they left. Brave. Unforgettable.’

Four decades later, Sandford has returned to the Perth Main House to direct Matthew McVarish’s solo play Remember you are beauty full. Having opened on Friday 24 September, the run continues until Saturday 3 October.

On stage, actor Julie Cullen plays Alanah, an ordinary woman buried beneath the crises of others. She has a best friend’s wedding to arrange, vulnerable teenage clients to counsel, and a grieving neighbour to support—all while an anonymous admirer leaves encouraging graffiti messages across town.

Alanah insists to anyone listening that she has everything in hand. In reality, she is quietly nearing breaking point.

‘Definitely the actors,’ says director Patrick Sandford, recalling his first impressions of Perth Theatre forty years ago as a trainee under artistic director Joan Knight.

Balancing Glaswegian Humour and Grief

The production sets out to balance fast Glaswegian comedy against the undertow of personal loss. For Sandford, handling that transition demands nerve from performer and director alike.

‘First we have to be fearless in shifting between the humour and the grief,’ says Sandford. ‘It can sometimes happen in the same sentence. We have to be careful in balancing how strongly or lightly to play each quality.’

Because Cullen is alone on stage, she cannot rely on castmates to absorb the audience’s reactions or retreat behind naturalistic fourth-wall conventions. The shifts require direct address.

‘And perhaps strangely, when there is only one actor on stage, the actor has to be unafraid in playing both the laugh line or the emotional moment “out front”,’ says Sandford. ‘The actor’s face as well as her voice shares the truth of each moment with the audience. It’s a cliché, but what matters above all is the truth of every bit of it. Only if the base-line is true, will we accept the additional magical elements that Matthew gives us.’

Scaling Up from the Studio: Transferring to Perth Main House

First staged at Glasgow’s Òran Mór in 2012, McVarish has revised the script for Perth, updating cultural references and telephone ringtones while keeping the central narrative intact.

Yet transferring a play conceived for an intimate basement lunchtime setting to the open expanses of Perth’s Main House brings distinct technical demands. Sandford approaches the transfer with four decades of directorial craft behind him.

‘I am probably bolder now. I understand theatrical space better,’ says Sandford. ‘I understand how a good designer and lighting designer and composer can bring wonderful contributions to the work.’

To establish that environment, the staging relies on design from Emily James, lighting by James Mackenzie, and an original score from composer Colin Ross Waterson.

The wider population of Alanah’s world—the callers, clients, and neighbours—must be conjured entirely through phone conversations and monologue.

‘Well of course the other characters rapidly enter the audience’s imagination, through Alanah’s description of them, or through the phone calls,’ says Sandford. ‘We have to be very careful to make the story and their roles in it absolutely clear, through Julie’s delivery of the lines.’

The audience, in turn, is drawn directly into the dialogue.

‘Julie is alone on stage but she is not alone in the space; the audience reaction, their recognition, be it through attentive silence or hopefully laughter, will embrace everything,’ says Sandford. ‘By the end of the play the audience hopefully will become characters in the play. The phone rings and Alanah directly asks the audience: should she answer it?’

***RYABF Promotional Images – Credit Tommy Ga-Ken Wan***

Rehearsal Mechanics and Solo Stamina

Sandford knows the exposure of solo performance at first hand. Having performed his autobiographical piece Groomed more than a hundred times—in settings ranging from the Scottish Parliament to the Vatican—he understands the stamina required.

‘Performing solo demands a particular degree of self-belief,’ says Sandford. ‘Nobody is on stage with you supporting you. There comes a point where you just have to do it, and know you can do it, and have a right to do it.’

While Sandford directed plays concerning political conflict during his years at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, he separates his own past from McVarish’s text.

‘Any director’s personal life experiences will feed the work, but it’s more about having a reservoir of emotional understanding than making direct comparisons,’ says Sandford. ‘Alanah is in Glasgow, not Belfast. Her challenges are around love and marriage and her dreams, rather than childhood trauma. I actually have to keep my own life out of it—it’s Matthew and Alanah’s story anyway.’

That background led to practical boundaries in rehearsal: working near Cullen’s home, enforcing proper breaks, and scheduling an early technical dress run to prevent exhaustion.

‘As a director I hope I support Julie by being scrupulously honest with her,’ says Sandford. ‘She has to know she can trust what I say. No flannel, no flattery. Constant encouragement and well-timed “notions for rejection”.’

Preparation demanded thorough technical command before rehearsals began.

‘The actor concentrates, in order to appear completely relaxed and spontaneous,’ says Sandford. ‘One basic requirement is to know the lines “upside down and backwards”. Julie was amazing—she had learned pretty much the whole play before we started. I have rarely worked with such a rigorous and committed performer.’

From the Nuffield to Perth: A Director’s Career

Sandford began his professional career touring Oxford housing estates in a battered police van before taking up his training post at Perth. Major tenures followed as artistic director at Southampton’s Nuffield and Belfast’s Lyric.

‘Julie is alone on stage but she is not alone in the space; the audience reaction, their recognition, be it through attentive silence or hopefully laughter, will embrace everything,’ says Sandford

He stepped down from the Nuffield at sixty to clear space for younger practitioners, but conventional retirement was never on the cards.

‘I have never had a career plan, beyond doing work that interests me,’ says Sandford. ‘Sometimes it’s in a proper theatre, like Perth. Fantastic! Other times it may be in less organised surroundings, and not pay very well, if at all. I am sure I will continue doing stuff.’

With Remember you are beauty full now on stage in Perth, that direct theatrical focus remains central to the production. Asked what line he would spray-paint on the stage door for his younger self arriving forty years ago—a sentiment he aims to see realised in this opening—Sandford’s response is clear:

‘Work! Work fearlessly! Enjoy it, enjoy it, enjoy it!’

Featured Image: RYABF Promotional Images – Credit Tommy Ga-Ken Wan