Michael Lunney
Artistic Director & Producer, Middle Ground Theatre Company Ltd
After beginning his career as a civil/structural draughtsman, Michael changed direction slightly and went to drama school in Birmingham. He co-founded Middle Ground a few years later after working in rep in Paignton and Birmingham as well as pantomime, small-scale touring and Theatre-in-Education. Michael made his directing debut in 1995 with his interpretation of the Priestley classic An Inspector Calls, which played in Scotland/the Highlands and islands for 10 weeks to much acclaim.
Other Middle Ground directing includes: number one touring productions of Ernest Thompson’s On Golden Pond,Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Richard Levinson and William Link’s Prescription Murder, Bill Naughton’s Spring and Port Wine, J B Priestley’s Dangerous Corner, Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, Noël Coward’s Present Laughter, Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path, Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter, Frederick Knott’s Dial M for Murder, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and numerous tours of Wynyard Browne’s The Holly and the Ivy.
In 2001, he directed and adapted for stage William Rose’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? and, in 2006, he adapted, designed and directed Middle Ground’s most ambitious production to date, James Kennaway’s classic drama Tunes of Glory, in which he also played the role of Major Charles Scott. In 2007, he produced a national tour of the punk comedy Meeting Joe Strummer. In 2013 he adapted, directed and produced Ellis Peter’s Cadfael: The Virgin in the Ice.
Other Middle Ground designs include: I Have Been Here Before, Dial M for Murder, The Importance of Being Earnest, Billy Liar, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, “Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad”, The Signalman and On Golden Pond.
Acting roles for Middle Ground Theatre Company include: Tony Wendice and Inspector Hubbard in Dial M for Murder, Jack Manningham in Gaslight, Harold Crompton in Spring and Port Wine, Inspector Martin in The Late Edwina Black, Arthur Fitton in The Family Way, Gerald Croft and Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls, Walter Ormund in I Have Been Here Before, Dr Schlessinger in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Robert Caplan in Dangerous Corner, Fred in Present Laughter, John Ruskin in Pre-Raphaelite Seeds, Richard Wyndham in The Holly & the Ivy and Robert Dudley in Soe Well I Love Thee.
Television acting work includes: Blackpool, Dream Team, Doctors, Vote for Them and Sweet Seventeen for the BBC; Coronation Street for Granada; The One Game for Central;The Widow Maker for Central Films; Crossroads for ITV (semi-regular).
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