When The People Show began in 1966, there was no experimental theatre in Britain, not any. There were no groups. The only theatre in London was the West End, and that was it. There was only one theatre-in-the-round in Britain, the Victoria at Stoke-on-Trent, run by a guy called Stephen Joseph, who was a beautiful guy, but who later died. He was the only one really. So when we started, it was very exciting.

I had studied theatre at a teachers’ training college called Trent Park. We didn't study much acting technique, but we studied a lot of improvisation technique, because that is what you need with children. It was a very useful thing to have done. Trent Park was a music, art and drama college, and we found ourselves, while there, working all the time with music students and art students. From those days onward a lot of values, in a way, were knocked down for us.