Romantic Comedy in conversation with Director Mel Hampshire
Bernard Slade’s Romantic Comedy opens at Wokingham Theatre in a few weeks. We’ve sat down with director Mel Hampshire to hear what audiences can expect from the penultimate show of the 2025/26 season at Wokingham Theatre
First of all, without giving too much away, tell us what Romantic Comedy is about?
It starts off in 1965 in a New York townhouse, the home of acclaimed playwright Jason Carmichael. He has recently fallen out with his writing partner and is about to get married, when Phoebe Craddock enters his life and there is an instant attraction between them.
Despite the chemistry that’s always between them, circumstances never really allow them to be together, and they instead become writing partners. But after a big argument, she moves away to Paris where she writes her first novel, based on her life.
Time passes and Phoebe returns to talk to Jason about working together on the screenplay of her novel, because they write so well together and she needs his help. The attraction is still there, and sparks fly…
What did you think of the play when you first read the script?
I had never heard of it before, but I was thinking about what I fancied directing, so I literally Googled romantic comedy plays, and this came up. I made the mistake of watching the film version with Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen, which is awful, and nearly put me off! Luckily I’d read the script before that, and the play is so much better than the film.
But the play script is really funny, it’s got hints of Neil Simon and Noel Coward about it. Like Bernard Slade – who wrote Romantic Comedy – these playwrights are so good at pulling relationships apart, and I love that. So I just really liked the characters, they’re a lot of fun, and frustrating at times, when you just want to knock their heads together! But like so many romantic comedies, if they’d have just snogged within the first ten minutes of meeting, we wouldn’t have any story!
What have rehearsals been like?
Too much fun! A lot of laughter. The cast are all just all so good, they have the ability to have fun with the script. They’ve got such great chemistry too, not just the central pair, but all of them. They’re so talented, I haven’t had to do too much!
Tell us about the staging, what can we expect from the set?
Well it’s a single-set production, which instantly makes it a challenge, because you’ve got to make it interesting. My biggest bug bear is when a play is meant to look naturalistic and movement has been micro-managed. I keep saying to the cast, this is your house, so walk around like it. Pick stuff up, move around with familiarity. They’ve all been here so much, stayed over so many times, we have to believe that. Everything is familiar, and we have to believe that familiarity, it’s so important.
There’s also an extra special part to the set design though, courtesy of Ben Kellett and Hope Lawrence, who have created these amazing projections that show outside the window. It’s such a lovely, lovely addition, it just makes the setting and backdrop of New York feel like a character. Plus we can use it to show the passing of time, seasons changing etc, which is hard to do in a single-set play. But the windows are an integral part of the set, they make it so special.
What do you think are the central themes of the story?
Love! Attraction. Chemistry. How opposites are attracted to each other. And how much this man’s career has unexpectedly come to rely on this woman. What happens when she comes back so successful and he has just collapsed without her.
What can audiences expect from this show?
A nice warm feeling in their tummy, hopefully feeling a little jollier than when they walked in. It’s a fun story and a frustrating story. But they are so good that I would challenge anyone not to enjoy it.
Romantic Comedy opens at Wokingham Theatre to a charity preview on Wednesday 3 June before opening to the general public the next day. Tickets cost £16 each and can be purchased here.