Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me)is a one-man staging of John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost combining theatre, comedy and movement. Written by Lost Dog’s artistic director Ben Duke and co-directed by Ben with Lucy Morrison, associate director to the Royal Court, this is an often witty, sometimes acerbic, always observational journey through the story of the creation of everything condensed into 75 minutes.

Originally performed – many times – by Ben Duke all over the UK to the delight of packed audiences and critics alike, this new production stars actor Sharif Afifi whose theatrical credits include The Band’s Visit/Donmar Warehouse and the hit film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!

Whilst in rehearsals, we caught up with Ben to see how it feels to move from performer to director and how the show continues to be so relevant ten years on from its first performances.

Q:Paradise Lost… returns to the stage this autumn – without you in the lead role! How does that feel? And does the casting of (Olivier-nominated) actor Sharif Afifi bring theatre and dance even closer together?

BEN: It feels like it’s time for me to put Paradise Lost down. I have been performing it on and off for nearly 10 years and I think the best way to make the show feel new again is to hand it on - and I’m delighted to hand it on to Sharif. He is from a theatre background although he did dance when he was younger. He is exactly the kind of performer I enjoy working with. For this project we made a very conscious choice to step into the similar and yet entirely different world of theatre.

Q:Will you be making any changes to content, set/design/lighting, music?

BEN: There is a chance some of the words might change a bit as we start working with Sharif. It’s very important that this show feels personal to the performer and if there are things we can change that help this sense of connection then we will look at that.

Q:How did you and Lucy Morrison (Associate Director, Royal Court) meet and how will you work together as co-directors?

BEN: We met when Lucy was organising a festival at the Almeida Theatre in London and she programmed a Lost Dog piece called It Needs Horses. We then worked together on a production called Like Rabbits with the brilliant Lucy Kirkwood. We haven’t worked together as co-directors so I’m not entirely sure how that is going to work…I’m hoping Lucy will do the hard stuff and I’ll stand up every now and then to help Sharif with the movement!

Q:Has the work’s significance altered over the years?

BEN: I had no idea when I made it that it would still be part of my life 10 years on. I noticed when I performed it most recently that different parts of the story had come into focus for me. The birth was less haunting than the moment when Adam and Eve leave the garden. That’s possibly as my own children are closer to leaving home than they are to the moment of their birth.

Q:Do you think Milton would like what you’ve done with his poem?

BEN: I think he would find my language a bit thin in comparison to his. And I think he might question some of the theological shifts I’ve made in the piece but I hope he would appreciate the dramatisation of his epic poem and my attempts to bring his characters to life.

Farnham Maltings is delighted to be working again with the multi-award winning dance theatre company Lost Dog who were previous resident artists. The performance in Farnham on Sat 19 October is part of a wider 14-date tour of southeast England as organised by the house southeast theatre network.