KNOT HEART - Almeida Theatre

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In the Rehearsal RoomMichael Attenborough with Dr Owen Bowden-Jones in rehearsalPhoto: Matt Humphreyinstance to clean the floor with gusto. He would describe what he felt it meant for her journey at thetime and what it meant for the journey of the play and the relationship between her and her daughter.Mike would then take a moment, inhale, then translate it into actor speak; and within minutes themoment had been transformed!As the end of the week approaches the actors are itching by now to do a run of the entire play. A fewweeks ago and I would have been very nervous about the fact that we hadn’t but Michael’s sense ofcalm always puts me at ease. It always seems as though everything is happening exactly as it shouldbe and even if it wasn’t I am sure he’d convince us all that it was!So it’s Friday and the cast are all more than ready for a stagger through but on arrival we are told thatLisa Dillon has been injured whilst performing in another show. It means that she will need rest andthe run has to be cancelled. Michael cuts the rehearsal short and an early weekend ensues. Injuriesare awful things for actors on a show as their body is limited and it’s completely out of their hands.And even when everybody around you is supportive and you know all you can do is just rest and letthe body heal itself, there is always this inevitable sense of guilt that one feels. There is the frustrationthat things have had to stop because of you and I am sure this is no different for Lisa.By the following week, Lisa is still not 100% but is determined to do the stagger through. It is nowthat I really appreciate the in-depth work that Michael has done with this play. Even with an actress inpain and a few days off, this stagger through is wonderful. In fact there were moments when Lisabeing in pain probably worked for her and other characters as well. AI see this especially at the pointwhen Lucy collapses into the arms of the nurse, Brian, confessing finally that she needs help. There isthe sense of her being so completely fragile, like she literally might break at any moment. I imaginethe actor in Kieran is treating Lisa with kid gloves, so as not to hurt her, but there is something aboutit that works. During this run I am utterly convinced by the play. I am totally invested in Lucy and herjourney and more so that I’ve been involved with helping to create it through rehearsals.31Resource Pack: The Knot of the Heart
The run is followed by notes and there are many from Michael, myself and David but Michael issensitive and skilled at how to deliver our notes to an actor so they not only receive it well but sothey are still finding something new right until closing night I should imagine. I’ve always foundthese note sessions oddly funny. Because actors need to actualise notes, it’s not just something thatwill go in a notebook and be done with, they will actually have to apply this physically- and so even inthat moment that they are receiving it, you see them almost literally feeding their character theirnote. So eyes suddenly enlarge and they are whispering that line with the intention the director hasgiven as they write in the notebook or on the script. But it’s all done so quietly and so internally thatits barely noticeable- until it’s noticeable that is! Then you can’t see anything else. Sometimes I canlook around a rehearsal room during a notes session and just see a room full of actors all nodding,frowning and muttering to themselves.The rest of the week flies by. Lisa seems to be in less and less pain by the day (or at the very leastshe’s gotten better at being in pain), and the stagger-throughs are turning into runs and the runs arelooking smoother and tidier. Michael watches these runs remarkably still and I wonder where all thedirector energy goes as he relinquishes all to the actors and then I see the little ball of blue tac in hishand being relentlessly squeezed and it’s comforting.The runs are now open to some of the Almeida staff and the power of the play can be heard in thosepin-drop silent moments, or it can be seen in the General Manager wiping her eyes as she hurriesout of the room. The play moves people. It engages people and it’s easy to overlook its power on anemotional level when you’re so familiar with it. By the end of the final run I am somewhat shockedthat we’ve made it this far. It all seems to have just become. Nothing mind-blowing about any oneday, just a series of small undetectable miracles that have produced a powerhouse of a play.The final day in the rehearsal room and Michael stalls for time by talking about the next week oftechnical rehearsal as stage management are preparing the treats of cakes and champagne topresent to the company. And then, just like that, it’s over.Soon I am pulling down research images off the wall and making room for the next cast that are duein to rehearse. The room is larger, emptier. A blank canvas ready for something new to fill it and I’mglad.Production WeekI walk into the Almeida Theatre and think I’m almost breathless. I have no idea how unbelievablypowerful Peter McKintosh’s set is. It was always very attractive on the model box and I loved thespare feel it had, but I had not realised just how beautiful it was until confronted with the life sizeversion. I see how powerful the reflective quality of the windows are and of the huge amount of ivydraped across the brick wall at the back . It absolutely screams urban garden in Islington and underthe worker lights it looks like a real life courtyard.The energy in the theatre I guess is a loud calm. There is noise everywhere. Hammers, drills,boisterous laughter from the technical crew all jovially teasing one another but the calmness comesfrom the efficiency of it all. We are about to start the first technical rehearsal in 30 minutes and Iknow without a shadow of a doubt that everything will be just so by then. Backstage the actors arestill and transformed in their costumes and through the tannoy I can hear blasts of composer DanJones’ haunting music for the play. The music is melodic and beautiful, but there is a stirring ofsomething darker underneath. As if something huge is about to happen. That’s how I feel right now.The stirring of something about to happen...In the Rehearsal RoomResource Pack: The Knot of the Heart 32
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 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: moments like these, when standing w
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 (

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