Ahead of his latest directing role for All My Sons at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, acclaimed director Michael Rudman chats to Hattie Curl.
Michael Rudman has certainly had an illustrious career; from his role as the associate director at the National Theatre under Sir Peter Hall to winning a Tony award for 'Best Revival' with his direction of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, he has achieved much. An avid Miller fan, Rudman’s latest theatrical venture will be as the director of All My Sons, coming to The Rose Theatre, Kingston October 28 – November 19.
All My Sons was Miller’s first great Broadway success, sealing his reputation as one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th Century. A compelling story of love, guilt and the corrupting power of greed, it has swiftly become a modern day classic.
The play follows the story of Joe Keller, a thriving businessman who, during World War II knowingly supplied the American Air Force with defective engines, leading to the deaths of innocent pilots. To avoid the blame, he let his business partner take the fall, but on a Sunday afternoon Joe is confronted by the consequences of his moral actions as a visitor arrives to reveal a secret that will rip his family apart.
With rehearsals going well, Rudman thinks that the play’s themes are still pertinent to contemporary audiences. “It calls forth so much truth,” he explains, "which allows the actors to constantly draw upon their own experiences and observations."
Rudman hadn’t always planned on this being his career path. He explains how his first forays into acting in Paris for a student play actually led to him becoming a director, reminiscing how “the director was so terrible that I thought ‘well I can do this!’ So the next play I asked if I could direct it, and they said ‘sure, why not?’ I'm glad it worked out, it’s a great job.”
Penny Downie & David Horovitch in dress rehearsal for All My Sons
The theatrical community has certainly benefited from Rudman's serendipitous stumble into directing with a plethora of celebrated performances marking a distinguished career in both the US and the UK. Interestingly, although American himself, he prefers British theatre and its general atmosphere. His favourite theatre to work in is the National Theatre, London, due to the fantastic resources and the fact that “everything is laid on for you.”
When pressed about why he prefers working in England he gives an interesting insight. “The actors are very different. In England, when you direct a play you have a pool of actors who are almost a company from the beginning. A lot of them have often worked together and they tend to have all worked in similar artistic mediums.”
“In America, you get a group of actors and they tend to be very different. One might be from films, another from regional theatre, another Broadway, another television, and it’s harder for them to gel as a group of actors quickly, which is what you need to perform a play to its highest standard.”
Praising the cast of All My Sons, Rudman goes on to describe how they’ve become a company very quickly themselves. The speedily established relationships and shared sense of purpose has made the rehearsal and creative process much easier, as the actors “sort of share a language, a vocabulary” which certainly bodes well for the upcoming production at the Rose Theatre.
One of the things that has made Michael so successful over the years as a director is his own ability to encourage the aforementioned moulding of a group of actors from individuals in to a cohesive company. This skill has been honed over a solely theatre based career as unlike a lot of American directors he has never been tempted by the bright lights of Hollywood, having never really been interested in films himself and growing up without much television for inspiration.
Francesca Zoutewelle & Edward Harrison in dress rehearsal for All My Sons
The tangibility and sense of camaraderie in theatre has continued to motivate him to direct phenomenal plays with some fantastic actors. His favourites include Alec McCowen and Felicity Kendall.
Having worked with Kendall in 5 productions over the years – with whom he was married to and currently lives with – it is clear that they have a strong bond, not only personally, but also professionally and creatively. Another favourite colleague was McCowen. “He was wonderful to work with. We did Fathers and Sons, the Brian Friel play at the National and we also did the Browning Version by Rattigan.”
In the last couple of years Rudman has branched out from directing the story of another to writing his own, composing a book of theatrical anecdotes from his extensive career and thoroughly enjoying the experience.
“In the early 90s my wife divorced me and Chichester fired me. I needed money, so an agent convinced me that I could make a lot of capital by writing a book about my experiences. So I started it but no one was interested, and then 15 years later somebody else – a very good publisher – asked me and I thought well why not?”
He found the process incredibly cathartic as it helped “bring my life into focus.” A cracking read, I Joke Too Much, gives a wonderful insight in to the world of professional theatre with plenty of comedy and tragedy along the way.
The book certainly highlights the vast experience of Rudman as a director over the years which coupled with his love of Arthur Miller, I'm sure will result in a hugely successful production of All My Sons.
All My Sons is showing at the Rose Theatre, Kingston from October 28 – November 19. For tickets visit rosetheatrekingston.org
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