claytoncast

In the corporate work that I do, I suppose there’s a lot teaching involved. Bringing people into contact with techniques and principles that hitherto they’ve not thought about, and enabling them to use them to make their own skills more effective. I don't ever think of myself as a teacher. My vision of teachers is somewhat impaired by a collection of rather uninspiring tweedy sports jackets, dubious beards, and in several cases an affliction to the state of bachelor that made us all wonder just what closet door they were trying to beat down. In many cases I’m sure that I do teach. Yesterday I spent the day at The Actors Centre showing the skills involved in doing corporate role-play with a group of enthusiastic members of all ages. Indeed I would hope that my book “teaches” in some respects, but I would hope that its wisdom is imparted through experience and anecdote, rather than some dull learning by rote system.  I know that’s how I learnt whatever minimal technique I ha...

Never go back. We've just had the joy of a little three night break out in Portugal. I'd been out there directing the McDonald's uk AGM and then Rich flew out on the Wednesday to spend the rest of the week with me. We moved to a hotel in Faro which had a rooftop pool and that was all we needed. Sun loungers, kindles, good books, and the sun. Faro is not the most exciting place being the town near the airport from where everyone scurries off to the resorts on the Algarve. Indeed from our hotel, a mere ten minutes drive from the airport, we could see the end of the runway. No problem. We chilled. One thing we do love on holiday is an nice evening meal. Preferably outdoors so I can smoke, and good food. We weren't given that many options in Faro. The first evening was my mistake. A little restaurant in a square in the dark. Richard's meat kebab ( he's not a pescatarian) arrived garnished with prawns. For a boy who can't be in the same room as a can of t...

It's the time of year that I like; the cardigans are coming out. Last weekend saw the arrival of two of my cardigans, Richard's parents, and a trip to an English vineyard for lunch with 30 people. When I met Mr Richard Howle nearly 17 years ago and our eyes locked across the Telegraph crossword in the green room of the Arts Theatre Cambridge, I didn't see the large, varied, and fertile family sitting right behind him. As an only child, adopted by my parents after two failed attempts at having their own child,  I have always associated family life with a remarkable degree of isolation. I'd like to think that the long hours I amused myself as a child are a part of the reason for my fertile imagination. Richard has always been part of a larger group. It's probably why he is so genuinely at ease with people, and yet also I know how he values our time alone. This weekend we have managed to get two whole days together for the first time in ages. This evening, Sa...

I've never had any regrets about the fact that being a gay man means that I won't have children. For one thing I don't think I have the patience and for another it means that I choose to invest in the future in different ways. Watching my many friends bring up their children with love and care makes it clear to me just what a difficult job it is and I  don't think I'd be up to it. I have some fantastic godchildren, some great friends in the children of my friends,  and  I've acquired a complete set of nephews and nieces from my partner Richard. I do think it's very important however,  to try and help play a part in shaping things for the future, to pass on experience, and to give young people opportunities that perhaps weren't available for oneself. For the last two years I have been in charge of the Alan Bates bursary award at The Actors Centre where I am chair of the board. It's an award set up in memory of the actor Alan Bates to help on...

If you have a good agent whom you trust and who works well for you, one of the benefits of finishing a long piece of work, such as the 7 weeks I've just done on "Him and Her" series 4, will be that in the 1st week after finishing work you'll be plunged back into the  world of castings. As actors we do hundreds of what are essentially job interviews. My partner has probably done three job interviews  in the whole of his working life (He got all three jobs I have to point out), and for many people job interviews are a source of great stress and tension and worry. This can also be the case for actors. Having sat on both sides of the desk hours as actor and as director casting my own productions, I have seen people so desperate for the work that no vestige of a real personality transmits itself. It's difficult. You want the job, and yet you don't want to appear as though you're in the last chance saloon. The best time to go for interviews is when you...

It's always good when you  have just done something new in your career, and yesterday saw the end of the filming of series 4 of "Him and Her". Despite the extensive amount of television that I've done, this is the first time I have been on a series for the whole length of the shoot. I can't pretend it hasn't been hard, and I can't pretend at times that it hasn't been repetitive and a little boring, but I can say that it's been the hugest amount of fun working with the nicest people, and a very very talented crew. It will be absolutely fantastic to see the finished show in the autumn. It being in the hands of an extremely capable director, one knows that it will end up looking brilliant, and having read what are just simply superb scripts, I think that people who tune in and watch it will have 5 weeks of brilliant observational television comedy.  For the rest of August, September, and most of October it looks like I'm back to the ...

That's a wrap. Those are the words that lift your heart at the end of a long day's filming. And we've certainly had some long days during the filming of "Him and Her" series four "The Wedding.  This Saturday, 17 August will be saying those words for the final time as filming draws to a close. After a read through in London in a week of rehearsals in Bloomsbury, the whole unit decamped to a secret location just outside St Albans to recreate a day in the life of a group of people involved in a wedding. It's really difficult for me to say more without infringing what I'm allowed to tell you, but I am about to say that it's been great fun if hard work. Usually the months of July and August are by definition holiday months. People are away, and very few firms do any training in the  summer months, so work prospects during that time can be quite fallow, particularly in my area of strength, the corporate field.  In past years I've invol...