Through a Glass Darkly - Almeida Theatre

In the Rehearsal RoomIan McElhinney in rehearsalPhoto: Bridget JonesDon’t settle. You have tofollow your calling. Nowmatter how hard it mayseem, you must makedifficult choices.KarinScene Sixthe perfect environment to allow Martin and David to have sucha dangerous and provocative conversation.Week ThreeWe continued to work chronologically on each scene, with Mikenow directing the actors in great detail. With the actors off-book(not needing to use their scripts) an added sense of playfulnessand experimentation emerged in the rehearsal room. There wasa real sense of things picking up pace outside the rehearsalroom too: costumes, production meetings about the set, andquestions about the programme were all things that werefeeding into the rehearsal room. Mike was working until late inthe evening to develop what he wanted to go into theprogramme, taking things from the rehearsal room wall andfrom discussions during the process. The themes of this playare rich, with madness, creativity, sexuality and family being buta few. Hence, there is an abundance of material that is relevant,from R.D. Laing to Shakespeare.Tom continued to refine the visual aesthetic of the show,alongside serving the practical necessities, such as Maxneeding a pocket for his script and Karin needing a dress thatshe can do a very quick change into. Later in the week, SoundDesigner Dan Jones came in to do an initial sound session withRuth and Mike. The sound is obviously a crucial part of a playthat centres on a woman hearing voices. This sound meetingfocused on what it is that Karin is hearing at the moment whenshe is called to the derelict room. It felt very important thatRuth was an active presence in this process as it needed to feelreal for her journey. Dan brought some ideas he had createdprior to the meeting. We gave Dan some feedback and ourthoughts to take away with him and work on. Karin’s characterdoes actually describe what she hears and how she feels in33Resource Pack: Through A Glass Darkly by Ingmar Bergman