KNOT HEART - Almeida Theatre

In the Rehearsal RoomWeek 3I’m starting to feel the affects of life-long insomnia and food on the go and in my bid to stay alert Idrank my first cup of coffee in ten years last Monday, followed by more and more right through tillFriday. This week my mind is urging me to reach for the pot again. Just one cup, the devil on myshoulder is saying and the irony of the possibility of battling with a caffeine addiction whilst working onthis show is not lost on me.Resisting temptation, I sit in on a production meeting at lunch time with Michael, wondering where hegets his energy from. The production meeting consists of the stage management team, the designer,wardrobe and the likes, who pretty much use this time to talk through the physical needs of the play.The energy they bring to the room is completely different, it’s like a new shared language is beingspoken and it’s particularly noticeable after spending an entire morning with the actors. Michael speaksthis language too- it would seem, fluently. He has a different edge with this team. Everything is faster,blunter almost. They talk about the set and solve problems with how it is to be positioned in relation tothe audience. Also prosthetic hands and blood consistency are dropped into the conversation –someone asks, ‘should it be congealed, dry or dripping?’ There is a sense as Michael lists off his wantsand needs for the show, that this team can do anything: ‘a Boeing 747 flown in during the interval yousay, Mr Attenborough? No problem!’The actors are also making strides this week and are beginning to work off book. It’s a relief really assome of the action in this piece is so intricate that having the script in hand whilst trying to navigate themoves was becoming a noticeable frustration for them. But with actors off the book, one frustrationends as another begins: learning lines!It’s a difficult transition as much time has been invested in talking through the action, the thoughts andrelationships and so the very mechanical action of just going through lines and learning them verbatimcan sometimes feel at odds with this. It’s really this time when actors need to trust the script and that‘round the table’ process the most, and it’s this time when the layers of the process become veryevident. We’ve gone seamlessly from keeping the play in the head and in conversation, to tentativelystanding things up- encouraging the thoughts into the body and now the stripping of the script is a newjolt to the actors process that adds another challenge to the work.Michael is adept at talking actors through their objectives and intentions even at this point, subtlyreminding the cast that the line is found in the thought. Scene 11 sees this working successfullyparticularly with Kieran Bew - the only member of the cast with a Y chromosome. It’s a strong scenebetween him and Lisa and I am very relaxed watching him effortlessly play his objective. I see anaudience really enjoying this scene, especially the connection between the two characters - both wantingsomething from the other and both needing to appear relaxed and charismatic, even flirtatious to get it.The writer, David Eldridge also joins us briefly in the rehearsal room this week and after leaving us toget on with it throughout week two, it becomes perceptible that it’s a bit of a big deal that he’s back inthe room - not to him, of course, as he is delighted at what is being accomplished but this is a teamwho are working very hard each day to honour his words and so I suspect that there would be an everso slight tensing of the shoulders as he observes. David sits next to me as he watches Lisa and Abigailwork through Scene 12 and I notice he is at the edge of his seat. He watches actively like a football fanengrossed in a game on TV that his wife has told him to put on mute because it’s late and she’ssleeping. So he’s quiet, composed even, but beneath the surface this must be huge: seeing these wordsthat were once in his head not only off the page but now coming to life in the rehearsal room. It’s arevelation for me as I realise that this play is David’s baby and for a season he gives it over to Michaeland the actors whom he is trusting to bring the child up. Before he leaves his words confirm he is happywith how his ‘baby’ is being reared. I think the scene will be great he says. Perhaps the shoulders releasejust a little now!We also welcome another guest in the rehearsal room- Dr Owen Bowden-Jones who has worked closelywith David and Michael in providing a medical voice for the play. He sits with us to talk about the27Resource Pack: The Knot of the Heart