Illustration by Mr G  Johnson

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In the second Bristol Breakfasts feature, which sees an interview accompanied by an illustration of the interviewee, Bristol Culture editor Martin Booth speaks to Bristol Old Vic artistic director Tom Morris.

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It is the last weekend of rehearsals for World Cup Final 1966 and director Tom Morris is feeling the pressure.

“I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I’m Alf Ramsey,” he tells me.

A sleepless night imagining that he is the fabled England manager may have dictated his choice of a double espresso, which he brandishes like the Jules Rimet trophy as he talks early on Saturday morning.

With rehearsals starting soon, Morris has cycled from his home to our arranged meeting point of Spicer & Cole just off Queen Square, only a few hundred yards from the King Street theatre where this summer, England are guaranteed to win the World Cup whatever happens in Brazil.

Morris is resurrecting World Cup Final 1966, a play which he originally co-wrote and directed while he was at the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) in south west London, to coincide with the four-year cycle of football fever.

After the double espresso, Morris moves on to an orange juice, eating a brie and ham croissant in between talking to me as I have seen him talk to a full-house at the Old Vic. Sometimes almost shy in smaller groups, he can turn on the charm when addressing an audience.

Morris’ style of theatre is “imagination-led” where he wants the audience to form a relationship with the actors on stage, on a stage which he recently had moved forward by several feet to more closely resemble how the historic auditorium originally looked.

“The thing that motivates me is when a group of people in an audience imaginatively engage with a group of people on a stage, and something happens which couldn’t have happened without the people on the stage and couldn’t have happened without the group of people off the stage.

“That’s the goal for me, and audiences will go home taking something beautiful which they have partly made themselves.

“Developing a relationship with our audience is the biggest, most exciting, most challenging learning love story you could embark on. It’s not easy, not predictable, frustrating as often as it is rewarding.”

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After graduating in English literature from Cambridge University, Morris spent several years as a journalist on national newspapers and BBC television and radio before becoming artistic director of BAC, where Jerry Springer The Opera was first performed under his watch.

From BAC, Morris went to the National Theatre as associate director – in football like winning promotion straight from the Conference to the Premier League – and it was at the National that he co-directed the smash-hit production which made him known across the world: War Horse.

I get the sense that the show remains an albatross around his neck. But he admits that it got him the job at the Old Vic and its global success means that he is able to attract artists of international acclaim to Bristol and attract money to the theatre to complete the refurbishment.

“Of course I’m really proud of it. It’s not what I would choose (to be remembered by) but War Horse was an incredible time.”

He laughs nervously when I suggest it might be the one piece of work by which he is remembered.

“There’s a bit of me that wants to do something else that people talk about. In that respect it’s useful and motivating, but I’m realistic that might not happen.”

His brother Chris is one of those artists of international acclaim that Morris can attract to Bristol. But don’t expect any collaboration soon.

England are more likely to win the World Cup in a month’s time at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro than a theatrical production of Brass Eye or Four Lions come to the Old Vic, although Morris Jnr admits that the pair do occasionally discuss creative ideas when they are together.

Morris appears reticent to talk too much about his older brother, respecting a choice that the Bristol University graduate and former BBC Radio Bristol presenter has made for virtual media silence.

“We do talk about things but have given each other space to make our own work separately,” Morris reveals, before praising his brother’s work.

“I think that he is a time-enduring artist and I most certainly am not. Four Lions is an enduring masterpiece, serious satire made with vividness, clarity and bravery. The depth of research and the seriousness of intent that went into it, it’s off the scale.

“I want him to continue making that sort of work and if I thought that I could help him in any way then I would. But I don’t want to disrupt that process. Making something like that is very difficult. Unless you’re like the Coen brothers and it’s your life, it would be a big choice to burden a familial relationship with that sort of collaboration.”

Collaboration, however, is key to what has made the Old Vic such a success under Morris and executive director Emma Stenning, who he also worked with at BAC.

A theme throughout our conversation is funding. For A Midsummer Night’s Dream last spring to make, in Morris’ words, “any kind of financial success, it had to make half a million quid at the box office”.

Fortunately it did, and it has gone on to play from Washington to Seoul, acting as a calling card for the Old Vic.

But Morris believes that like our two professional football teams, Bristol as a creative centre is punching below its weight.

“I still think that Bristol hasn’t quite grasped its opportunity to badge itself as an international cultural city. What really needs to happen is the city and the council and the arts organisations and the businesses of Bristol and the region need to grasp this opportunity, which means investment.

“It’s not the Old Vic that’s under-invested, it’s the Tobacco Factory, it’s Mayfest, the Colston Hall – and there should be an orchestra in Bristol. It’s like a touch paper waiting to be lit. There is so much potential in the city.”

Runcible Spoon on Nine Tree Hill in Kingsdown is a favourite place for Morris to eat, and the Cube a favourite place to spend an evening, but he admits that he doesn’t get out as much as he should.

“I wish I could say that I go out more. Recently I’ve just been in the theatre all the time.”

At the theatre, risk-taking is his stock in trade.

“It’s just ignorance,” he says modestly when I ask him if he will continue to be a risk-taker. “I just don’t know how to take the safe option. In lots of ways, I wish I did. When you’re running a theatre, taking risks is difficult to be honest.”

And what about future aspirations?

In summary it’s a “complete refurbishment, full theatre, diverse programme, and enough resources to continue to enable us to make diverse work or work that has got a global marketplace so Bristol is on the world map”.

If England can win the World Cup, then anything is possible. And with a firm handshake, Morris is gone, unlocking his bike outside to make the short cycle ride from Spicer & Cole to the Old Vic where rehearsals can begin.

World Cup Final 1966 is at Bristol Old Vic from June 12 to July 12. Visit www.bristololdvic.org.uk/worldcupfinal1966.html.

Spicer & Cole

1 Queen Square Avenue, Bristol, BS1 4JA

Double espresso £1.95

Flat white £2.35

Orange juice £2.75

Ham and brie croissant £2.85

Total £9.90