Scene stealers

DAMIAN Cruden knows the pressure is on. Having acquired the rights to stage Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson's 500,000-selling Whitbread Book of the Year, Cruden's world production is now on show at York Theatre Royal: the culmination of the three-year process of transferring the novel from page to stage.

Starting last night, there are three preview shows, or "see it first night" shows as they are fashionably called these days. That is more than for the always technically challenging Theatre Royal pantomime and this summer's York Millennium Mystery Plays in York Minster, such are the complexities of the staging and the desire to serve Atkinson's 1995 novel to the best of the theatre's ability in the city where the story is set.

"It's great that we're staging a new piece of writing but that carries an extra burden," says the artistic director, who commissioned the prominent playwright Bryony Lavery to turn the 373-page novel into a play lasting under two and a half hours. "As a city we're very lucky to have a writer of her calibre writing for us.

"We have a piece here that's been written by two of the country's leading writers, Kate and Bryony. As a theatre company, it's really important to us to work with writers of their quality."

Could this production be turned into a tour to extend its life beyond a three-week repertory run in York? "If we do our job right, then yes, I hope that might happen, but it comes down to other people in the theatre industry. I can't foist a tour on anyone; it's up to others to take it further," says Damian.

"However, it would be wonderful to be ambassadors for the city of York, but it requires a lot of people to want that to happen and to receive the play in the world outside York. At the moment everyone is waiting; no-one will commit until they've seen it. So for now the people who are sticking their necks out first are us, the creative team.

"Then, if everyone likes it, that's when everyone else will climb aboard. We live in a wait-and-see world so there's no great surprise in that."

Kate Atkinson's story centres on Ruby Lennox, to be played by Theatre Royal regular Kathryn Dow Blyton (as she did in this summer's radio adaptation by Bryony Lavery for BBC Radio 4). Ruby, who lives with her parents Bunty and George above their petshop near York Minster, tells the story of The Family - her family - from the end of the 19th century, through the First World War, to the memorable events of her own life.

"The play is very much about memory and the memory of history and what it means to the present. There is the notion that the past is a cupboard of light and all you have to do is find the key that opens the door," says Damian, who has applied that notion to assessing the best way to present the play.

By using a cast of nine to play a multiplicity of roles between them, the Theatre Royal production incorporates the whole story. "In relation to all the characters, the trick to what Bryony has done is to reduce it like a sauce to the strongest essence and then for us to serve it with the right accompaniment," Damian says.

"The story's journey has to be quick but it must have a lot of depth too and what gives it that depth is the narrative, so scenes that take a long time in the book can be condensed into ten seconds through a combination of music, dialogue and visual imagery."

Cruden says his production is not a literal adaptation. "To me, it has the quality of an epic symphony or a ballet, so it's magical. It's very much a piece of art responding to another piece of art without having to be literal."

The music is a key component. Composed by musical director Christopher Madin - who was responsible for the music for Patrick Marber's Closer earlier this Theatre Royal year - it will be played live by harpist Anna Christensen, flautist Richard Ingamells and cellist Madin himself.

"It's new territory for me and Christopher musically, working with a harpist, flautist and cellist," says Damian. "Very deliberately, the choices of instrument are lyrical because it's such a moving, deftly-told story that swings from being very humorous to very sad."

Another ingredient sure to attract audiences is the play's York setting, not least the murder committed outside the Theatre Royal. "What a gift for us. You can't get closer than that!" says Damian.

"Kate Atkinson used to come to the Theatre Royal when she lived in York, and so did her children, and so the theatre has had its place in what shaped Kate as a writer."

Kate Atkinson, the press, fans of the book and the city of York are all about to deliver their verdict. "I can tell you, it's the most frightening play I've done in terms of expectations. I think people are expecting something far more literal and far less literate than we're doing," says Damian.

"But it's such a beautiful piece of writing by Bryony that I've spent a lot of time crying in the past three weeks of rehearsal because of the emotions of the play."

Now, the most significant production of Damian Cruden's three-year tenure as artistic director steps out from behind the scenes at the Theatre Royal.

u Behind The Scenes At The Museum runs at York Theatre Royal until November 18. Box office: 01904 623568.