Which airline are the uniforms from?

The male cabin crew uniforms are copies of BA uniforms with different ties. The female uniforms are from Serbina and the pilots uniform is ex British Midland.

What sort of research did you have to do to play a cabin crew member?

Melissa who plays MJ, worked as cabin crew for Gulf Air, so she pulled us up on little mistakes we made. such as when an actor pretends to press an overhead call button, I now also on reaching him press the same pretend button to stop it sounding. The actor who plays Barry and I also have a scene where we are

actual pilots undergoing a simulator check ride. We used a simulator for this and learnt the engine fire drill and other drills just like real airline pilots, and then just like real pilots, practice the drill over and over again. Harry, the director is an ex airline pilot and he drilled us so that we knew where each instrument was even with our eyes closed. I can see now why they call the simulator, ‘The Sweat Box’

Why do you have two separate casts, doing different theatres?

Simple answer is that as actors, we can also take other roles such as TV work and we understudy each other. Two of the cast are stand up comics, and often have to work in clubs such as Jongleurs, so again we just use the other actor. Also in real airlines, the crews always work with different people on each flight, so I suppose we are just following the life of cabin crew members. I share my role with Adale who was recently in Doc Martin and the BBC drama series ‘Rome’, she will step in when I have some other theatre projects in the spring, and I cover Adale when she is filming.

Could you be cabin crew in real life?

No, to much like very hard work

In the play, you all perform dance routines which copy the group STEPS, have any member s of STEPS seen the show?

We have as a cast been asked to go on MTV, where Lisa Scott Lee from STEPS will take us for a master class in the routines for the show, so watch this space!

Is there a reason behind the casting why the male cast members are although playing gay roles are in real life not gay?

I could quote the old theatrical tradition that gays play non gay roles and non gay play gay roles, but in this case, it was purely down to who was the best at the casting. Also as a company, there are more then just the actors and the rest of the company has a mixture of straight and gay.

Does playing different theatres mean you have to change things for each show?

When training for this show, we did it based on having a thrust stage and people sitting on three sides. We also used a very small stage area which we marked out as 12ft by 8ft so that whichever theatre we go to, we can play within that confined space. Most of the theatres have massive stages so it is then easy for us to expand the show to fit the stage. We do a tech run before each show, so that we know where the lights are going to be.

Is it hard playing multiple roles in one play?

As an actress, it is a dream part and this style of theatre demands obvious changes in roles. It is also unusual as we get to break down what actors call ‘The Forth Wall’ and means that as actors and also those watching us, get to really use their imagination. This style follows much of the Brechtian rules of theatre even having a narrator who flits in and out of the play and acting with and separate from the rest of the cast.

Did you all go to drama school?

Yes, some for three years, others shorter or in special performance centres.