KNOT HEART - Almeida Theatre

In the Rehearsal RoomMichael Attenborough, Abigail Cruttendenand Lisa Dillon in rehearsalPhoto: Matt HumphreyAnd God darlings I did drugswhen I was young. It was thesixties. Don’t you think I wish Ihad done things differently?But I am only trying to do mybest. But whatever my best is itis the wrong thing.BarbaraScene 10It’s about the writer, who more often than not, will behearing their play read aloud for the first time, which iscompletely nerve racking for them.’ I’m suddenly awarethat we are all in this first day together. We are all feelingthat sense of not knowing what is to come and inknowing that I relax.The read through brings to life the words that already inmy opinion were powerful, heartbreaking and brutallyhonest. Excitement begins to build as I hear the voicesof the characters speak for the first time. I particularlysee why David wrote the role of Lucy for Lisa. Even inthis first reading I’m utterly mesmerised by herconnection to this woman’s decent into drug addiction.I’m profoundly moved by the play and utterlyembarrassed that tears fill my eyes on Lucy’s finalwords.Of course it is only the first reading and there is certainlya way to go before these actors are ready to tell thisstory to an audience. It’s inevitable that there would bethe odd moments of clumsiness, silences that areobserved almost religiously but what a fantastic cast wehave and I can’t wait to see the journey they go on andthe choices they make with these characters.The rest of the week begins to unfold rather quickly. Thenext day designer Peter Mckintosh shows us the modelbox: a scaled-down version of what the set will look like.This is one of my favourite parts of the process as gooddesigners can really bring the spiritual, unseen,unspoken world of the play to the physical realm. Petercertainly does this with the set. It’s designed on arevolve allowing the flow of time that is depicted on thepage to be seen effortlessly. It’s also a very sleek design.23Resource Pack: The Knot of the Heart