Award winning director Jamie Harper had worked on productions for Bush Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, BAC and BBC Radio 4 before forming Hobo Theatre with the aim of producing work in unconventional spaces 'telling stories with an international perspective about wanderers, adventurers and people lost at the margins'. These have taken the form of Spanish civil war tales in a restaurant, Balkan refugees' stories in a garden and now, a play about cold war Berlin performed in a bleak, cavernous warehouse space in Battersea. Jamie filled us in on what inspired Heaven in Berlin and Hobo Theatre.

RR: Heaven in Berlin is a 'free adaptation' of The Tempest- how much is Shakespeare's influence evident in the play?

JH: The real inspiration for the play was the venue - Testbed1. As soon as I saw the space I was reminded of Berlin, and specifically the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire. Having made the decision to locate our story in cold war era Berlin we then started a narrative development process - the notion of Berlin as an island city, divided by the wall and surrounded by East Germany, brought to mind The Tempest. Our first workshops consisted of improvisations based on the character relationships from Shakespeare's play transposed in to a variety of different contexts. However, The Tempest was only really a narrative spring board and it soon became apparent that the story we wanted to tell was entirely different.

RR: You've made work about Balkan refugees, the Spanish civil war and now cold war Berlin- what is it about these stories that you've felt compelled to convey?

JH: The Balkan refugee play, Roundabout for The Bush Bazaar was based on a news story about illegal immigrants living on roundabouts in Northamptonshire. It seemed extraordinary and unbelievably poignant - politically marginalised people living on the geographical margins of society.

The literature and history of the Spanish Civil War has always fascinated me - given the opportunity to stage a play in one of London's best tapas bars - Morito - it was a straightforward choice of theme.

With Heaven In Berlin, as discussed, the setting was suggested by the venue. The truth is that we never set out to be a company with a self-consciously international outlook, we just wanted to produce exciting work in interesting spaces. Ultimately, it's all about the story!

RR: The music in the show includes tracks by Iggy Pop, Klaus Nomi and Neu!- how did you go about putting together an 80s soundtrack appropriate to the production?

JH: We were given a huge boost when Jess Hamilton, publishing A&R for Imagem, agreed to be our music consultant. She put together a huge list of songs which we then whittled down to our final soundtrack.

RR: The production also features dance and promenade performance- do you think theatre-goers need an increasing amount of visual spectacle to keep their attention these days?

JH: Not necessarily... In terms of Heaven In Berlin, the sheer size of the space demanded an epic production and promenade was the most exciting and practical way of staging the play. I think theatre does need to fight to make itself heard in today's saturated cultural marketplace and there is an intrepid, adventurous audience out there who are hungry for new kinds of dramatic experiences that don't necessarily involve sitting in darkness in front of a proscenium arch. We hope they come to Heaven In Berlin...

RR: You've also worked with The Art of Dining in the past- how do food and theatre go hand in hand?

JH: They don't necessarily. In the work we've done with Art of Dining and also our play at Morito, La Turista: Cafe Duende, we wanted to totally integrate the theatrical experience with the dining experience. In La Turista, the serving of drinks and food was done by the characters, and the script referred directly to the meal. We wanted the audience to feel that they were in Madrid in 1936, not just passive spectators.

RR:  If you could produce work in any London space, which would it be and why?

JH: I've always fancied flooding the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern and staging Pericles. Now that would really be epic..

Hobo Theatre's Heaven in Berlin is on from 25th September until 23rd October- full details here.