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Interviews
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David Grindley Philip Fisher interviews the director of Abigail's Party, whom Mike Leigh described as "one of the most important young directors that we have." David Grindley is one of life's enthusiasts. He positively gushes his views, always constructive, on a var-iety of subjects. This probably makes his life as a freelance theatre director that much more palatable. It is not easy to carry out one project without knowing what, if anything, one will be doing when it finishes. This has become an even greater consideration now that he is a very proud father of a six-month-old son. As a consequence, the incredible success of his revival of Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party is that much sweeter. It completed a sell-out 16-week run at the Hampstead Theatre, where the original production had been put on 25 years before. Now it has moved to the New Ambassadors - one of the very few suitably intimate West End theatres - and was nominated for Best Revival at the Olivier Awards. Grindley first fell in love with theatre when he was ten while watching his mother acting and directing in amateur dramatics in Sussex. He was soon using Lego men and blow-up sets from the back of Samuel French texts to direct his own mini-productions. Although he auditioned for drama school, he was always keener to direct than act. "I enjoyed acting but directing and interpreting texts, not to mention the opportunity to be involved in and responsible for the whole of a show, was what I wanted to do." Grindley's first break was with his own production of Othello on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1993. This was presented in true Fringe spirit, with a female Othello and a male Desdemona. The show was a huge hit and was nominated for an Independent Award prior to a transfer to the Battersea Arts Centre. In 1996 Grindley was invited to become assistant director at Chichester. He helped 15 different directors and the highlight was an Uncle Vanya starring Derek Jacobi, Imogen Stubbs, Trevor Eve and Frances Barber. This subsequently transferred to the West End and was televised. During his time at Chichester, Grindley was lucky enough to work with such strong influences on his career as Michael Rudman, Bill Bryden and Robin Lefevre. In 1998 he became programmer at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester. He operated in the spirit of Sam Mendes, allowing young actors from the main house to play leading parts in the smaller theatre. The big success of this season was his production of Loot, which subsequently transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre for a three-month run. So far, Grindley has tended to direct comedies. He thinks that this is because he is regarded as a safe pair of hands with comic material. He would love to do more Shakespeare and especially Chekhov. He uses comedy to get absolutely the right balance between light and shade: "I'd love to do Vanya again." Perhaps the strangest assignment of his peripatetic career to date has been producing the quintessentially English Michael Frayn's Alarms and Excursions in Spanish with a translator, achieving remarkable success in Buenos Aires. Grindley is a very hands-on kind of a director who will visit his productions on a constant basis. It is important to him that his actors feel comfortable and he is a collaborative director who wants to involve his actors and design team in major decisions. He and Abigail's Party's leading lady, Elizabeth Berrington, both emphasise that it is a real team effort between the five actors and the young creative crew. It is clear that this is a show they all love and that has struck a chord with audiences. Grindley has been a fan of Leigh's work, Abigail's Party in particular, for many years. "Mike Leigh is a great man. He has managed to keep his sense of purpose and values together with a sense of humour throughout his career. "He is a superb advocate for young people and has fully supported this creative team. He has never doubted the decisions that have been taken and has always been a stalwart - right behind us." Leigh encouraged Grindley to direct the revival and has also seen the production countless times. He has only praise for Grindley: "He is a very talented all-round director with a good sense of theatre and a great way with actors. He has done an amazingly good job. It is a production both orthodox and fresh - original, sparky and real." Grindley emphasises: "The production at Hampstead was a risk, since many members of the audience had fond memories of the original. In fact, the audience response there was incredible." He has no doubt that live performances will always prove a richer experience than the videotaped version. Even those notorious Hampstead Saturday afternoon audiences have bought in and responded marvellously. There are not many theatre directors who can say that. One good thing is that the cult popularity of Abigail's Party has allowed Grindley complete casting freedom. He is well aware that in order to achieve commercial success, it has become de rigueur to find major Hollywood names or British television stars who can fill a theatre. This can be the case irrespective of the nature of the play or, on occasion, the performances. Although he is not averse to working with famous people, this freedom means his options are never limited. In fact, many actors who auditioned were scared by the play's previous success, believing that the original production would overshadow any work they did. In the spirit of teamwork that he so positively espouses, this young director, who was only seven years old when the original production found an audience of 16 million on prime-time Saturday night television, emphasises that "these actors have marched away into the West End by creating a fantastic show". He is delighted that even after over 150 performances, the production remains fresh. He also pays great tribute to the dedication of his actors. "The accents are in a very narrow register and potentially could wear their voices down." Ironically, as he says this, the rather attractive contralto of Berrington can be heard as she exercises her vocal cords prior to going onstage. He says of her Beverly: "She built it from the ground up. She has really made the role her own and has paid no heed to Alison Steadman's original." This is in part due to the fact that, remarkably, she has never seen the TV version. He has been lucky in his casting in that, as he says: "It is hard to find contemporary actors who have a real comic sensibility. Nowadays, all the best comic jobs go to stand-up comedians and there is a dearth of comic actors." He has no doubt that the current cast has this sensibility but would not relish recasting the show if that ever became necessary. His vision for the play is strong. "This was a very charged time and Abigail's Party was a groundbreaking play that caught the mood of the time, which was that of a battle between the aspirational Beverly types and the teenage punks with their nihilistic attitudes." It is this nihilism that Grindley catches perfectly with his inspired use of The Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen in the final scene. Grindley does not necessarily see his career ending in theatre, though he loves its sociability, the team atmosphere and the special magic. He may well look further afield, as he says: "I would like to do a film, maybe even get to Hollywood like Sam Mendes or Stephen Daldry." A trip to America might well do him good, as he believes that at the moment the best new writing is American. In particular, he selects Richard Greenberg who has already had two recent successes at the Donmar with Three Days of Rain and Take Me Out. Whichever course Grindley's career takes, he is the kind of man who will have fun and put his all into whatever he is doing. If that is not a recipe for success, there is something wrong with the world. Mike Leigh, has no doubts about that success. He sums up Grindley's enthusiasm in the most positive way. "David Grindley is one of the most important young directors that we have." This interview first appeared in The Stage
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