Bohemia and Victorian respectability collide when the vivacious star of the Saddlers Wells Theatre, Rose Trelawny, attempts to swap backstage life for the suffocating household of her formidable prospective grandfather in law, Sir William Gower Q.C.

Even in this new adapted form of the script Phil Willmott set me the challenge of coming up with three main set locations in a theatre space that has no wings, no real backstage area and no flying facilities. I wanted to give the audience feel some affinity with the back stage world of the 'Wells'. As the audience entered the space through the 'stage door', complete with green baize board festooned with notices and letters for the company, they were presented with an actors view of the back of a traditional proscenium arch.

The first scene was played against this backdrop formed by the stained and threadbare reverse of the plush red tabs (curtains) with the auditorium presumably beyond. These curtains parted at the end of the scene to reveal the characters waiting in Sir William Gower's sitting room in Cavendish Square. The audience were looking the wrong way through the forth wall at the 'real world' beyond the cosy confines of the 'Wells'. Prior to this scene the actors who doubled parts had made their exit through a small door stage right and effected their quick change behind the curtain without even leaving the space.

The next transformation was from Sir William's house to back stage at the 'Wells'. This was achieved by folding in the stage left and stage right walls of the house to form the reverse of a set complete with cleat and lines, a tee cut out, flying ropes and various pieces of theatrical dressing.