EXPERIENCED actor Mark Butt makes his directional debut on the Garrick’s main stage with Arthur Miller’s award winning masterpiece.

A View from the Bridge is set in 1950s Brooklyn and centres on Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman who has incestuous feelings for his niece.

But its the arrival of his wife’s cousins, illegal immigrants from Italy, which leads to his self-destruction.

Mr Butt said: “It’s great when you enter a rehearsal room and you sense you have the right people - with understanding and openness to learn.

“If an actor has an idea, I like to explore it and take the play to a higher level.

“Eddie is played by Matthew Banwell and he is bringing commitment and dedication to the role.

“His true secret feelings come from his body language. There can be a different story flowing from the body which might not relate to what that character is saying.

“Audiences pick up on this quickly. That is when theatre gets interesting.”

This play is unusual in that it has a narrator, Alfieri, who eventually becomes part of the plot.

Mr Butt said: “He is played by Nick Sample and he only becomes part of the plot when Eddie visits him for advice.

“But he cannot influence the course of the action, he is a spectator and Eddie’s fate is already sealed.”

He added: “It’s not what happens but how it happens that is so effective.

“The story is very accessible. It’s about ordinary people and an ordinary man heading inexorably towards his own destructive fate.”

• A View from the Bridge runs at Altrincham Garrick Playhouse until Saturday, October 20.

For tickets, telephone 0161 928 1677 or book on line at altrinchamgarrick.co.uk