In order to maximise fund-raising opportunities, The Pierrotters had worked with the same administration as the theatre company I had founded in Brighton after graduating from University of Sussex, called ‘Bright Red’. Although they had related interests, both were distinct entities with the same administration up until this point. In the Autumn of 1987, I left the theatre company after a disagreement about what we should do next and at this point it seemed appropriate to separate the two projects even more distinctly (as can be seen from the statement in this section). I also moved away from Brighton, where I had been based for the previous 8 years and where I had founded The Rotters. I had been profoundly affected by touring Yorkshire with Bright Red during the miners’ strike of 1984/5 and in 1987, I was offered the opportunity to co-direct a large-scale community play ‘The Wakefield Mysteries’ at Pontefract Castle, written by Adrian Henri with Major Road Theatre Company. Whilst directing in Pontefract, I was appointed as Fellow in Theatre at Bradford University and was given Theatre in the Mill (a 100-seat, black box studio theatre) to run for the next four years. As a result, I was preoccupied with a host of new exciting opportunities and decided to suspend the activities of The Pierrotters for a season and even to return some grant money we had been awarded by Brighton Council. Consequently, there were no gigs in the 1988 summer season, although plans were laid to revive the act in 1989.