MICHAEL LUNNEY
Director

After beginning his career as a civil/structural draughtsman, Michael changed direction slightly and went to drama school in Birmingham. He cofounded Middle Ground a few years later, after working in rep, 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 ten weeks to much acclaim. Other Middle Ground directing includes: number one touring productions of Terence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (starring Kelly McGillis), Richard Levinson and William Link’s Prescription Murder (starring Dirk Benedict), 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 , OscarWilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and numerous tours of Wynyard Browne’s The Holly and the Ivy, with Barry Foster, DermotWalsh, Tony Britton and Philip Madoc.

In 2001, he directed and adapted for stage William Rose’s GuessWho’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 ofMajor Charles Scott.

Other Middle Ground designs include: I Have Been Here Before, Dial M for Murder, The Importance of Being Earnest, Billy Liar and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Acting roles for Middle Ground Theatre Company include: TonyWendice 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 Shlessinger in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Robert Caplan in Dangerous Corner, Fred in Present Laughter, John Ruskin in Pre-Raphaelite Seeds, Robert Dudley in Soe Well I Love Thee and Inspector Hubbard in Dial M for Murder.

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; and The Widow Maker for Central Films. He also played the semi-regular DS Jim Garland in Crossroads.

In 2007, he produced the new punk comedy Meeting Joe Strummer, and last year he directed and designed the UK number one tour of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

He lives in Malvern with his partner Lynette and their beautiful baby girl, Bethany Rose…and Labrador Jasper.