Q&A with Calum Finlay

Before the team leaves our star of stage and screen behind in London, we chat to co-writer and director, Calum Finlay, about the process of creating What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors.

How did you get into theatre?

I was having a sleepover at my friend’s house and the following morning he was going to a weekend drama class at Playbox Theatre in the West Midlands. I tagged along, at the age of about 10 years old, and then I stayed at Playbox until I went to drama school.

How did you get involved with What Goes On In Front Of Closed Doors?

I live with Emma. Do you know, there is no one thing that I can point at- it sort of just happened. It started with Emma asking me to read something or direct a reading, and then progressively I have become more and more involved.

This is your writing and directing debut, how have you found your first project?

I have found it difficult to not think like an actor, which means I am not very good at giving notes- I think a good director guides and asks questions which allows the performer to get where they need to be by themselves. I think I am a bit more prescriptive because as an actor I have more of an image in my head as to how one might do it. It is nice having a lot of control, as an actor you can sometimes feel like a puppet or that you have to obey the artistic vision of others. You are a smaller cog as part of a bigger machine. However, when you are writing and directing you get to decide what sort of machine it is and what the cogs look like. You get more of a creative input.

Will you continue to direct and write in the future?

Yes, I will, if people will let me. I have written before but this is the first thing I have ever had put on, so I will continue to write. I do not know if I will continue to direct, as I say I do not know if I have the right disposition for it but I am enjoying doing it at the moment. We will see how it goes.

What are going to be your coping devices while the whole team is in Edinburgh for the Festival and you are staying down in London?

I do not really know… I am hoping Camille, who is our Assistant Director, will send me show reports and notes. Maybe record it so I can watch it in London. But really, as a director, this is the bit where your work is done. It is important for Emma to take ownership of what she is doing and it will be good for me not to be there all the time because she needs to play Molly as her own.

Who is most likely to be kicked out of a venue?

I can imagine Anna Beecher being asked to leave. There is something quite disarming about Anna, and I mean that as a huge compliment to her, but I can see people asking her to ‘please go away’.

What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors plays at The Attic, Pleasance Courtyard from 2 – 28 August 2017 (not 14 or 21). For more details visit: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/what-goes-front-closed-doors#overview

London Preview at Old Red Lion Theatre on 23 & 24 July 2017. For tickets visit: http://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/what-goes-on-in-front-of-closed-doors.html