Philip Hedley, who has died aged 85, was a protégé of Joan Littlewood, the radical founder of Theatre Workshop, a collective that toured shows aimed at working-class audiences and led an extraordinary revolution in British theatre in the 1950s when it took up residence at the Theatre Royal in Stratford, east London.
When I began re-reading the original material I instantly felt drawn to a circus backdrop in terms of design and aesthetic. A troop of entertainers, from the Ringmaster to the clowns, coming together to put on a show in a worn-out tent filled with the ammunition needed to put on a touring show, travelling away from home.