mini´«Ã½.

Theatre & Performance Technology graduate Harry Machray (2017) is to make his debut as a TV drama director on Channel Five’s Play for Today.

Originally broadcast on the BBC in the 1970s and 80s, Play for Today gained a reputation for producing cutting edge contemporary dramas and was a launchpad for many writers and directors. Alan Bleasdale, Willy Russell and Mike Leigh were all part of the original series. Channel Five’s revival aims to provide similar opportunities for a new generation of creatives.

Harry will be directing a one-hour stand alone piece of drama for the series. We caught up with him before he went into pre-production to discuss his journey to TV directing, working as head of factual development at LA Productions and his time at mini´«Ã½..

I always wanted to be a director, but I didn’t know how. I loved film, I loved theatre and was trying to be an actor but it wasn’t for me. I met the old Head of Theatre & Performance Technology (now Theatre & Production Technology) at mini´«Ã½., Richard Reddrop, and he said I should have a look at the course because if I was serious about becoming a director I needed to know about the technical elements of the industry. He believed if I approached it from that angle, then that world would open up to me.

I applied to mini´«Ã½., but with considerable trepidation. I had quite a traditional education, my school didn’t offer theatre, film or media – and certainly not technical theatre. At the interview I sold myself as someone who wanted to be a director and I think that intrigued them, I think that set me aside from other applicants.

I wanted to maximise my time at mini´«Ã½.. I realised the more I put in the more I’d get out. If I wasn’t working on a production I’d go to rehearsal rooms to see how the director worked, to watch the actors working – to understand their process. I wanted to understand lighting, set, costume. I may not have been good at all of these things, but I understood them. Once you discover the excitement and artistry of each of these roles you become a much better collaborator. And I do believe the best ideas come from collaboration. That’s the essence of mini´«Ã½., that holistic approach, and that’s how I like to work.

As a director your job is to get the most out of every individual you work with, not just the cast. To do that I think you need to have enough knowledge in your toolbox to be able to communicate with them fully and empower them. My experience at mini´«Ã½. gave me that knowledge.

COVID meant I had to rethink my career just as it was getting started. After I left mini´«Ã½. in 2017, I joined the Young Everyman Playhouse Director’s programme in Liverpool. I loved directing theatre, I adored it. I’d gone freelance, was starting to get work and then suddenly everything disappeared overnight. Then when the industry started to power up again, I discovered a lot of my contacts had moved on. The people I’d made a good impression on had left the sector. I found myself in a really scary position.

I had to find a way of using my skills to get paid. I approached broadcast and film production company LA Productions in Liverpool in the hope of getting some freelance work or being part of a crew and to my surprise they offered me a job working in factual television on documentaries.

Working at LA Productions has been like a crash course in TV production. I’ve learned so much by working with such brilliant camera operators, sound people, directors of photography, assistant directors. It was like learning through osmosis.

We’ve produced some amazing factual programming while I’ve been at LA Productions, but I had still had this ambition to direct drama. I was waiting for the right opportunity and when the second series of Play for Today came ‘round I knew this was a great chance for me to direct TV Drama. So, I pitched myself to our producer here at LA Productions (LA Productions were commissioned to produce two of the first series for four plays) and then pitched myself to Channel Five – and a couple of months ago was given the green light.

The friends I made at mini´«Ã½. have become my colleagues, even to this day. I’m currently working with Theatre & Performance Design graduate Dylan Howells on what is essentially a magic show for Edinburgh, something very different to Play for Today. The nuts and bolts of learning about technical theatre have stayed with me, they’re vital. But the people I met when I was at mini´«Ã½. – that's the most important thing to me.

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