Anthony Page, the theatre director, has been remembered by playwright Simon Stephens, who worked with him on the 2006 play Rainbow Kiss at the Royal Court. Page was the theatre's original choice to direct the play, an unsolicited script selected to occupy the venue's 50th anniversary slot.
A Titan of the Stage
Stephens described his excitement at working with such a titan of the theatre, noting that despite Page's fearsome reputation, he was lovely and ambitious for him. However, Page left the production when the Royal Court could not accommodate a diary clash. Stephens recalled the bloody spat as showing Page's famed fierceness, with Richard Wilson stepping in as his replacement, described as magnificent and tranquil.
Friendship and Quirks
The pair remained friends after the production. Stephens adored Page's wisdom and frankness but also his unconscious loftiness, recounting how Page was bewildered that David Tennant might not accept the lead in Rainbow Kiss after assuming a role in Doctor Who.
A lesser-known trait of Page's was his habit of putting his mother into his dramas, and sometimes other people's. She most memorably appears in the climax of the 1968 film If ..., directed by Lindsay Anderson, as the fur-coated woman machine-gunning young rebels and shouting, "Bastards! Bastards!"
