claytoncast

Reading Ben Miller's article in today's Sunday Times about the joys of a shared house when he was a student and starting out in the world of comedy, I'm reminded of my own experiences of mixed domiciles. Throughout my years at drama school in Manchester I lived in a shared house but, mercifully, we all had our own bedsits. So we had a door to close against the world when we needed to, and yet company was call when a shoulder was required for crying on.  The great thing about that house which stood in what was once the red light district of Manchester, now more fashionably known as West Didsbury village, was that the rent was so low that on completing my training I didn't have to head back to my parents. With a two room £5.95 per week bedsit as my major asset, I could hang onto it all throughout my 16 weeks touring for the Royal Exchange Theatre Company, and then come back to it for our run in Manchester. Indeed it proved a handy haven for other actors less prepared