KNOT HEART - Almeida Theatre

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Interview: David EldridgeAlmeida Projects spoke to writer David Eldridge about his ideas and inspirationfor The Knot of the Heart, and his experience of creating the play for theAlmeida Theatre.Almeida Projects: What inspired you to write The Knot of the Heart?David Eldridge: Well I knew a little bit about the emotional impact of substance abuse on a family soit's a subject that I could write about if I chose to. The subject mattered to me. But the person I knowwho has struggled with heroin, has led a life quite similar to the stories we've seen a million times onstage and screen before. That is poverty stricken, parents not around, prison etc. I thought it wouldbe much more interesting to tell the story of someone who seemingly has all of life's advantages andfrom a middle class background struggling with serious addiction. Of course the play isn't reallyabout addiction. I think it's about a mother and a daughter and the conditions of love. And it waswritten for the actress Lisa Dillon. She was the trigger really.The play started life as a conversation with Lisa Dillon. I wanted to write something for her to do andshe said she'd love to play a leading role and ‘get to go on a journey like the boys get to go on’. Lisaalso mentioned a role ‘not defined by its relationship to a man’. I got the idea of writing somethingset in the world of addiction, and also the image of a middle class mother-daughter relationship hadbeen gnawing at me. I needed to research quite a lot in to the world of treating addiction. I relished itthough, and met some very special people in the hospitals, drop-in centres and refuges along the way.I suppose with Lisa I had an inkling of how I might push her acting in to an interesting andchallenging place. And in the process of writing something which challenged her I pushed my ownwriting in to a place I never expected to go.AP: When writing a play do you always have actors and a theatre in mind?DE: I think of actors a lot. Sometimes I just like to have a face in mind, sometimes I like to hear avoice, sometimes I imagine a particular actor very vividly. I think it helps when you're writing forperformance and I think many other writers agree. Shakespeare wrote for Burbage and Kempe,Chekhov wrote for Olga Knipper, Simon Gray for Alan Bates, Simon Stephens for Daniel Mays.Sometimes I have a theatre in mind. When I do, I imagine myself sitting in the middle of theauditorium as I write.AP: The play features many locations close to the Almeida. Why did you want to set the play inIslington, and why were you drawn to write it for the Almeida Theatre?DE: The Almeida has great intimacy so it's perfect for a story which reflects upon the humancondition, but I was also interested in challenging the Almeida's regular audience. I often think that indrama as in life it's best to be specific. I find a writer more often manages to touch on the biguniversal themes that move and challenge an audience by writing in a detailed and specific way. Forme location and place is always very important and I try achieve that sense of place in great particulardetail. I had a story to tell, but once I knew the Almeida wanted to commission it, then I decided toset the action of the play almost entirely in Islington and adjacent neighbourhoods. This is partlybecause I wanted the audience to feel stories like Lucy's are happening all around them. To try andget them to see Upper Street through new eyes when they leave the play. I also wanted to inculpatethe Almeida's generally quite affluent audience a little. To reference a line in the play: Stories likeLucy's do happen to people like them.AP: The play is rooted in a highly realistic, local portrayal of the area. How true to life is it?DE: I think the play has great veracity and is a highly accurate distilled version of one journey throughaddiction. But it's not documentary theatre. It's a play. Its highly theatrical. It's about the heart muchmore than it's about social issues. It was crucially important to me though to portray the19Resource Pack: Becky Shaw
Lisa Dillon in rehearsalPhoto: Keith Pattisonprofessionals who work in the area of drugs treatment accurately. I think it's not just the documentarymaker but the artist's responsibility to get things right if you're trying to create a realistic fiction. I'mproud the script has been checked by doctors and care worker's for accuracy. It was much more scarygiving the play to them to read than it was delivering the commission to the Almeida!AP: You no longer live in London. Is The Knot of the Heart London-based for a specific reason orcould you have set it anywhere else?DE: It’s London based because of the world Lucy moves in socially as a TV presenter. As I said beforeit's important to be specific and I know Islington, Holloway Road and Archway very well. I neverthought about setting the play elsewhere once I knew I would write it for the Almeida. I think thethemes the play explores are universal. Everyone understands the difficulties and joys of a parent-childrelationship either from the point-of-view of a parent or a child. I suppose where a difference lies isthat while parents often feel their love for their children is unconditional and unchanging, a child mayoften see the love for their parent change and shift as they become an adult.AP: What has your involvement in the rehearsal process been?DE: In the first week, I was there all the time. After that I've come backwards and forwards betweenwhere I live now, in north west England and the Almeida. But even if I'm not there every day, I keep intouch, speaking to Michael Attenborough and Lisa Dillon regularly and reading rehearsal notes eachevening. I think the writer's role in rehearsals varies dramatically. I think young writers should be thereas much as they can so they can learn. I think all writers should take time out in the middle whenactors are focused on learning lines. Sometimes you rewrite a lot and are needed to work a scene.Other times, after the first week, you find yourself at a loss and end up making a good contribution inother ways. Many is the time I've ended up making the tea as rehearsals progress. A few years ago Iseemed to spend the final week going out to buy a heart-broken actress chocolate, to keep her happy.Interview: David EldridgeResource Pack: Becky Shaw 20
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 18 and 19: DesignThe Knot of the Heart is desi
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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