Petra

I had a phone call one night from a BBC radio producer whose office was next door to

another client of mine at Teddington Studios. He'd just seen my showreel. Would I be

interested in shooting a Shakespeare stage production in Jordan? There was no money

available: he was doing it as a favour to an old friend, the Director of the Original Shakespeare

Co. who had been invited to stage Midsummer Night's Dream at the Jerash Arts Festival. So

a few weeks later the Company and I all tootled off to Amman, courtesy of the Jordanian

Government. Jerash is a huge, excavated Roman city at the crossroads of the old

spice-trading route and the Silk Road, an hour north of Amman. The Company's two

performances, each to a packed audience, were in a temple that had been rigged with about

eight 10Kw spotlights right at the back and nothing else: not ideal - I spent half the shoot

trying to keep my own shadow out of the picture.

But the shows were a great success, after which the whole troupe and film crew had the

luxury of a bus and driver for three days. Dead Sea first - extraordinary experience - then on

to Wadi Rum (launching pad for Lawrence of Arabia's attack on the Turks at Aqaba in WW1)

for a desert sunset and an overnight with the Bedouin. Next day on to Petra, John Burgon's

astonishing 'Rose-red City, half as Old as Time'. The mile long walk through the gash in the

rock called the 'Siq' opens out onto the 'Treasury', just visible here. Ideally, you need several

days for a proper exploration of the whole Nabataean/ Roman site - it's enormous - and a

knowledgeable guide is probably a good idea too.

I had a phone call one night from a BBC radio producer whose office was next door to another

client of mine at Teddington Studios. He'd just seen my showreel. Would I be interested in

shooting a Shakespeare stage production in Jordan? There was no money available: he was doing it

as a favour to an old friend, the Director of the Original Shakespeare Co. who had been invited to

stage Midsummer Night's Dream at the Jerash Arts Festival. So a few weeks later the Company

and I all tootled off to Amman, courtesy of the Jordanian Government. Jerash is a huge,

excavated Roman city at the crossroads of the old spice-trading route and the Silk Road, an hour

north of Amman. The Company's two performances, each to a packed audience, were in a temple

that had been rigged with about eight 10Kw spotlights right at the back and nothing else: not ideal -

I spent half the shoot trying to keep my own shadow out of the picture.

But the shows were a great success, after which the whole troupe and film crew had the luxury of

a bus and driver for three days. Dead Sea first - extraordinary experience - then on to Wadi Rum

(launching pad for Lawrence of Arabia's attack on the Turks at Aqaba in WW1) for a desert sunset

and an overnight with the Bedouin. Next day on to Petra, John Burgon's astonishing 'Rose-red

City, half as Old as Time'. The mile long walk through the gash in the rock called the 'Siq' opens out

onto the 'Treasury', just visible here. Ideally, you need several days for a proper exploration of

the whole Nabataean/ Roman site - it's enormous - and a knowledgeable guide is probably a good

idea too.