KNOT HEART - Almeida Theatre

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