This January, Basement at Leicester Square sees perhaps its most visually absorbing production yet. Naima Khan caught up with the artful director Linnie Reedman.
Scriptwriter Reza DeWet’s most successful published works have been her trilogy of stories inspired by the life and works of Anton Chekhov. Her latest piece, Miracle, set during The Depression is about a group of travelling performers looking for the perfect venue for their acts. They come across an abandoned church with bags of character, mystery and some strange inhabitants.
Director Linnie Reedman tells us how she came by Reza’s script: “I saw a production of Three Sisters Two at the Orange Tree Theatre. I met her briefly and then did some research. I was totally bowled over by her volume "Trilogy". "Miracle" is a premier and I was very drawn to the characters...the ageing little girl, the Ringmaster character, a totally dysfunctional family and a distressed young girl. I also love the fairy/folk tale quality in the writing. And the surreal presence of a circus throughout the action.”
Linnie is well known for her employment of live music, dance, and strong visual imagery, whilst frequently involving the audience in her productions, so what can we expect from Miracle on these fronts? “The circus envelops the audience as they enter the performance space. The audience may find themselves approached by some weird and wonderful characters. Also the entire space has been converted into a crypt - very atmospheric”.
Hailed as an actors' director, Reedman has developed an open approach to directing. I ask her how she gets the best out of her cast: “I usually don't like blocking rigidly, but this cast seemed to feel more secure with being quite set so that was a new way of working for me.
In other of my plays the actors have been encouraged to devise and add movement but this happened much less with this piece. Having been an actress myself, I understand the insecurities of having to perform and the requests and quirks that actors have which non-acting directors don't always 'get'.” Can a director attempt to devise a method that works for everyone? “You can't impose one specific way. This piece was particularly difficult. It's an ensemble piece and there are often six characters on stage at the same time. What I tell my actors to do I know I don't always do myself in performance. Notes take time to sink in.”
Leading the ensemble cast is Susannah York, a veteran of stage and screen. Her most commonly recognised work was in Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969). More recently, York has been performing her solo show The Loves of Shakespeare’s Women (2007) at King’s Head Theatre. On working with Susannah, Linnie said: “She has a lovely, luminous quality. But she can be volatile - and so can I. So there were some fireworks. She knows what she wants to do, and wants to do it! Absolutely lovely though.
Susannah is a real trooper. She is completely un-starry. She stood on a stool in her garden in the rain to pose for photos, rehearsed in a primitive sea scout hut, is as agile as ever and insists on climbing on tables herself with no help.”
How does Reedman envision her audience feeling at the end of the show? “Like they have been through something. Definitely moved, entranced, lots of visual images to conjure up again and something to think about. I hope they will never feel indifferent. I like to entice with as many art forms as possible: music, atmospheric installations, visual images and, of course, drama.”
Miracle runs at Basement at Leicester Square Theatre from 12th-24th January 2010.
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