Once Pickwick closed, it was evident I’d been running on empty. I took refuge with my oldest friend, and stared at the walls of his flat for a couple of months. I didn’t have the energy even to look for work, let alone take a job if one were offered. It was obvious I needed qualified help. By good fortune, Alexandra, a therapist, entered my life. Thanks to her, over the course of many months, I was able reorient myself. It’s not uncommon for people to lose themselves. I was lucky in finding a way back.
I had just started putting myself back together again when I was contacted out of the blue by Stephen Boxer, with whom I’d worked at Lancaster a dozen years before. He’d written the music for an adaptation of Boccaccio’s Decameron which was to debut at the Nuffield, the university theatre in Southampton. It was a musician-only job, which was the perfect way for me to ease myself back into the world of work, blowing flutes and shawms of various kinds. The musical director was Ian Smith, with whom I’d worked on The Gondoliers at Nottingham Playhouse.
All in all, The Decameron was, thankfully, fun to work on. It’s a fine piece that captures the spirit of its source material. On a personal level, it came along at just the right time.