A good rule of thumb for gauging whether a read through goes well is whether the actors ‘get’ it, when they immerse themselves in their characters and want to know more about them so that they begin to explore and question the hinterland of them.

Slowly, surely, the separate and very moving component parts of all this are hoving into view, taking and changing shape as we go through this process. It’s unlike anything  I’ve ever done, and it’s all the better for that. 

The once proud industrial towns that were also home to the beating heart of the northern soul scene ( no co-incidence by the way ) such as Wigan, Blackburn, Blackpool, Wolverhampton, Stoke and others are now lined with empty shops and broken streets.