Being a producer is not the place to win public fame and adoration. The morning after my shows open, I scroll through the reviews like a hopeful child on Christmas morning, hoping to see a comment about ‘a superbly produced show’. Every time I am disappointed.

Although the director and actors will rightly get credit for the acting, and the production team will occasionally get praise for their technical genius, the producer is never featured. A real pity, because the Cambridge producer is the person ultimately responsible for getting the show onto the stage.

The producer is, nominally, responsible for turning the director’s dream into reality, ‘whenever it is practicable’. In reality, this means constant mediation between the director’s artistic whims and the desire of the tech crew to do something within the laws of physics.

Beyond boundless tact and diplomacy, the other skill required is the ability to keep on top of a million little tasks; small and oft-forgotten details like pizza for the final party, the programme and the press release all fall into the realm of the producer. The result is sending enough emails to break Hermes.

On the day of the production, the producer should in theory have nothing to do. In reality, we turn into the local handymen. The hour before my last show opened, I was to be found up a very tall ladder, frantically painting (somewhat) straight lines onto the set, having been up since 6am moving lead weights around the theatre.

After this gloomy picture of a producer’s life, why would anyone in their right mind want to do the job? The diversity of the role is its attraction: it is the only job in the theatre where you can get really deeply involved in both the acting and technical aspects of theatre-life. There is also a really rewarding feeling that you have taken an artistic idea and turned it into a commercial and practical reality. It would be nice to get just a little recognition from the critics, though.

An Enemy of the People opens at the ADC on 1st November.