Finding a genius

Just as the sun came out for the weekend, I found myself confined to bed with an unseasonal bout of 'flu.

An annoyance, but also a great opportunity to catch up with the backlog of scripts awaiting my attention.

I can't risk ignoring a new script by an unknown playwright in case he or she turns out to be the new Tom Stoppard or Caryl Churchill.

On the other hand, with the best will in the world, there simply not enough hours in the day for me to read all the scripts that get sent in to the theatre and to our office in London.

To solve the problem our management company Green & Lenagan employs a team of professional readers to report on all the scripts we receive.

Any that they believe would be particularly suitable for the Palace are then passed on to me (bearing in mind that we generally are not looking for large scale musicals with a cast of 30 and 15 different settings!)

I am always amazed at the extend of the writing talent in this country. It is very much part of our work at the Palace Theatre to nurture new writing, and we are fortunate to have the Dixon Studio, which is an ideal space for trying out new work in a relatively unpressured environment.

Next week sees the arrival at the Dixon of Boxed, a hard-hitting new domestic drama starring Eastenders' Mark Homer, prior to a run at London's Riverside Studios.

I also have to treat the Noel Coward piece I am directing the rediscovered Volcano with the special care and attention that one has to devote to a completely new work.

Directing a play that has never been performed before in front of an audience is an exciting journey into uncharted territory, as I can't draw on the experiences of previous directors and performers.

And although Volcano is one of his later works, we must never forget that even Noel Coward was once a hopeful young playwright, keeping his fingers crossed that a script reader somewhere would recognise his genius!

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.