KNOT HEART - Almeida Theatre

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DesignThe Knot of the Heart is designed by Peter McKintosh.The Knot of the Heart Model BoxThe Knot of the Heart places immediate challenges for the Almeida Theatre stage because of itsmultiple locations. The play takes place in a variety of locations, of vastly different characteristics: fromthe family home (a Georgian townhouse in Islington’s Gibson Square), to City Roads Drug CrisisIntervention Centre, to hospitals and clinics and ultimately to the top of Table Mountain. With theAlmeida’s lack of wing space and flying space (sides and above stage respectively), the best solution isto use a revolve – a mechanism that rotates the stage enabling multiple locations to be presented inone set structure.The revolve is a circular shape and on top of that sits the set, divided into three distinct areas, each adifferent size. The largest takes up roughly half the stage, a semi-circle, the second and third divide asemi-circle into smaller and larger sections. These create different sized rooms which fit both thelocation and the emotional action of the play accordingly. So, for example, the play opens in the large,open playing space, which is then the garden at the Gibson Square house. However, in the followingtwo scenes, as Lucy’s drug habit descends into hard addiction, we move to smaller and smallerspaces, echoing the closing-in of Lucy’s world. Similarly, the treatment room at City Roads is madefrom the smallest space, and Table Mountain returns to the expansive half-stage layout.To enable the plausibility of multiple locations to be at its optimum, the construction and design of thewalls of the set have been kept very simple, with clean lines. However within this, selected realisticprops are carefully chosen to indicate location: garden chairs in the first scene, a hospital bed, thefunctional chairs of a doctor’s clinic or the floor cushions of an Islington townhouse. Because the playis set in the present day, we can pick up on the location easily with only a minimum of details. Thisbrings to mind the dual impression that minimalist decoration can bring, depending on context: it canbe an indicator of both artfully sparse luxury but also cold clinical sparseness. As the revolve turns,stage management will re-set a scene to create a different environment, ready for the next scene.The bare back wall of the Almeida is visible but covered in ivy; this gives the impression of the outsidewall of an old house, suggesting a wealthy sort of property, common in Islington, bringing back thevery local focus. However, the ivy itself may symbolise the enveloping power of addiction over thefamily’s life – ivy as a fast-growing plant that can cause serious structural damage particularly to wallswith existing weakness, and a plant that draws life and nutrients from other organisms growing nearby.17 Resource Pack: The Knot of the Heart
David Eldridge in rehearsalPhoto: Matt HumphreyDavid Eldridge is a British playwright,born in Romford in 1973. He has beenwriting for theatre since 1995.David Eldridge was born in Romford, Essex, in 1973.He grew up in Romford, educated at a localindependent school whilst also working his weekendsselling shoes at Romford Market. He went on to studydrama at Exeter University, where his love of theatrewas nurtured and he was drawn to writing.David Eldridge began writing whilst still at universityalthough he came into public note aged just 22 withhis play Serving it Up at the Bush Theatre in 1996.Since then, he has written a new play or more everyyear and his work has been presented at many off-West End theatres in London as well as the NationalTheatre and West End, with his production of Festentransferring to Broadway. He has also written widelyfor radio. As a writer, Eldridge’s drama often exploresfamily life, with a trademark of truthful, realisticdialogue and sharp social observation. Both Festenand M.A.D. explore the family dynamic, whilst many of his other works such as Falling and SummerBegins look at the intricacies of everyday life through the theatrical form. His play Market Boy takesreal life experience as its inspiration, being informed by his childhood working on a market stall inRomford. He has also adapted a number of works for the stage, particularly Ibsen.The Knot of the Heart sees Eldridge once again place family relationships under the microscope, witha closely observed, brazenly truthful account of one family’s co-dependency and damagedrelationships.David EldridgePlays include:1995 Cabbage for Tea, Tea, Tea!Sideways MovingFighting for Breath1996 Serving It UpDirtyA Week with Tony1997 Summer Begins1998 Thanks Mum1999 Falling2000 Under the Blue Sky2004 M.A.D.Festen (adaptation of the Dogme film)2005 Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness2006 Market BoyThe Wild Duck (adaptation after Henrik Ibsen)2007 John Gabriel Borkman2009 Babylone(adaptation of Rue de Babylone by Jean-Marie Besset)The List2010 A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (written with Simon Stephens and Robert Holman)Lady from the Sea (adaptation after Henrik Ibsen)2011 The Knot of the HeartThe Stock Da’waResource Pack: The Knot of the Heart18
Page 4 and 5: Team- u. KapitänsübersichtLiga: C
Page 6: CharactersLUCYLucy formerly worked
Page 10 and 11: Plot SummaryLisa DillonPhoto: Keith
Page 12 and 13: Plot SummarySophie Stanton and Lisa
Page 14 and 15: 13Plot SummarySophie Stanton, Lisa
Page 16 and 17: 15Plot SummaryLisa Dillon and Margo
Page 20 and 21: Interview: David EldridgeAlmeida Pr
Page 22: Interview: David EldridgeAP: How lo
Page 25 and 26: It has neutrality that allows us to
Page 27 and 28: Sophie Stanton in rehearsalPhoto: M
Page 29 and 30: Margot Leicester in rehearsalPhoto:
Page 31 and 32: moments like these, when standing w
Page 33 and 34: The run is followed by notes and th
Page 35 and 36: Gibson SquareA classic late Georgia
Page 37 and 38: Heroin is an illegal opiate drug, w
Page 39 and 40: Almeida Projects visited the Chelse
Page 41 and 42: Dr Owen Bowden-Jones talking to Mic
Page 43 and 44: of your drug use and treatments tha
Page 45 and 46: Margot Leicester and Lisa Dillon in
Page 47 and 48: in with problems related to substan
Page 49 and 50: telling a joke, telling a story, wa
Page 51 and 52: tobacco, prescribed drugs, illegal
Page 53 and 54: BOOKSBrand, Russell My Booky Wook (

KNOT HEART - Almeida Theatre

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