Andy McGregor

This week saw the debut show for my theatre company, Sleeping Warrior , at the Arches as part of the Arches Live festival.  The show, 'Roses are Dead' told the tale of a failed relationship.  It was a quirky little half hour show that I wrote based on devised work in the rehearsal room.  My friend Deborah Hannan directed with Lucy Hollis and my good self performing. The room was small and provided an intimate performance space, we only had about 35 tickets available for each show.  I was happy with how it all went, Arches Live gives theatre makers the chance to do something a little bit different and try out new ideas.  That's exactly what we did and, for every unsuccessful idea, there were hopefully two or three more successful ones. You can see a whole bunch of photos from the rehearsal room through to the final show here .

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." Pablo Picasso I'm currently getting ready to go back to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to take a course on Shakespeare for schools.  This is the third year that I've done this but, with the recent changes in their curriculum, it has been extended from a week and a half course to three weeks (for two groups, so 6 weeks in all).  Creating the course has led me to really think about youth theatre and making theatre with young people.  I've been doing it for over ten years, I've devised, written and directed scores of plays with young people and I'm constantly trying to find out what works best.  It's a never-ending journey but one that I find consistently exciting.  I've been very lucky that I've received various other opportunities to work in theatre, but I still find myself drawn to working with young people.   Here are a few concepts that I firmly beli...