Directing "Sunshine on Leith"

This year I'll be working on a production of Sunshine on Leith with Allegro, a musical theatre company in Edinburgh. I've performed in a number of shows with the company and have done some design for them, redesigning the company logo and promotional design for Sweet Charity and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

"My passion and vision is to bring the colourful character of Edinburgh to life on stage"

Sunshine on Edinburgh Castle

This time my behind the scenes work will have more of an impact on stage as I'm the show's director! I'm super excited to be working on this show. I love Edinburgh! I moved here over 10 years ago and stayed because I love the city’s vibrancy, character and beauty. It’s an amazing, inspirational city. And Sunshine on Leith is an incredible show. It's not just an homage to The Proclaimers, but to the city of Edinburgh itself and to Scottish culture. My passion and vision is to bring the colourful character of this city to life on stage.

I won't give too many secrets away about the actual production because you'll have to come and see it (18 - 22 October, Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh). This is more about my process and how I've started pulling it together.
So, where to start with directing a show? For me, the devil is in the details. And the best way to find that out is with one of my favourite pass-times: creating spreadsheets!

I literally have a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for my life! When I'm working to achieve any goal I need to have it all spelled out on paper - what I need to do, how I need to do it and when I need to do it by. I wish I could say I grew out of needing to get straight As but actually having a progress report is something that motivates me. So, go with what works.

Scene list

For the show it's no different. Just like a painter can't paint if their brushes aren't washed and paints aren't set up, in order for my creativity to show on stage, the pedantic details need to be in place at the start. To be able to get all of the great ideas I have for the show onto the stage, I need to understand what happens when and where. I start by skimming the script and taking note of who's on stage and as many details of what props we'll need, where things will be taking place on stage, who's coming on next, costumes, sound FX, etc. Just like creating an outline when you write or making sketches when you draw, this list is the skeleton for the show that the body of the production will be built on top of.

Now that my skeleton is started I need to put some meat on the bones!

"Why don't you do the storyboards in Lego‽"

Believe it or not, I actually took a class in storyboarding and it's served me well many times through the years.

I used to draw my storyboards by hand, sketching all the figures, placement and lighting that I wanted (left). I would then construct a model set and show the cast so they begin to get an idea of the space that they'll be moving in.

This time, for fun, I constructed the model set out of Lego. Once I'd done that a friend said, "Well, why don't you just do the storyboards in Lego as well?!" Talk about a lightbulb moment!

Lego people are people too!

Lego turned out to be the perfect medium for storyboards. You have physical people that you can move around and position in the space. There was no need to worry about perspective and proportions. You can make tables, chairs and pretty much any of the props you need. And with the large variety of Lego minifigures out there you have a wide range of costumes (I did have to stop myself from spending too much money on Lego 'costumes' just for the storyboards, hence the Storm troopers representing soldiers). And, if you make a mistake or want to change a scene, you just replace all the characters in five minutes instead of a whole drawing session.

Mood board

The only draw back of doing the storyboard in Lego is that each panel isn't drawn with the right lighting and 'mood'. But, for lighting I always do mood boards anyway for discussions with the lighting designer. I find them helpful when trying to convey the feeling that I want the lighting to evoke in a particular scene. So, it was just a matter of adding these mood boards into the storyboard. People will just have to use their imagination a bit more, but hey, it is Lego after all! Do you think if the show is successful Lego will do a special edition Sunshine on Leith set?

When we start rehearsing scenes I'll bring out the storyboards to give people a general idea of blocking. Doing this from the start means I have more time to spend on getting to the heart of a scene and really building up the relationship between characters. The boards are also really useful for the company who may not have a principal part, but need to know how the show is put together and how their scenes fit into the larger whole. Nothing worse than finding out at the last minute what your purpose and placement on stage is.


How we all work together from the get-go is really important. I find doing actual scene work and workshops to be the best method to get the cast working together and learning about each other. For our first rehearsal I developed our own version of Scottish pub story telling. In the show The Proclaimer's song 'Over and Done With' is dramatised as such a story telling session. I created a wheel of 'topics' (the themes taken directly from the show + some crowd favourites). This I dubbed "Allegro and Done With".

And now that our body is built up, the structure is supported with the accoutrements that will make the show look amazing, it's time for the people to bring it to life!

Auditions are a tough process. Everyone in the company is talented and they all have a special something that will dazzle any audience. But, having the right combination of dazzle often takes precedence over individual talent. From the cast on stage to the crew and costumers, it's about how well we all work together.

I used this as a chance to get members of the company out of their seats and performing for each other. The idea was not only to break the ice, but to get people used to performing and thinking on their feet. Spontaneity is something that is inevitably needed in live theatre. And, the sooner cast get used to the idea of performing for and respecting each other, the better prepared they'll be when it comes time to hit the real stage.

"Allegro and Done With" definitely broke the ice. In fact some people's stories broke the ice, melted it down, mixed in a bit of fruit squash and served it to the whole cast as a refreshing beverage!

Hope you enjoy!
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