The morning air pinched my cheeks as I sped through the grounds of the Royal Naval College on Tuesday 21st October at 09:58. Once I’d found my bearings (thank you nice man) and successfully slowed my breathing (thank you TFL) I stepped into the fray. The room was a cocktail of friendly hellos and nervous anticipation, think Heathrow arrivals but everyone’s waiting for the same person.
Introductions were led by Ricky, followed by our initial thoughts on the Life of Galileo. I was struck by the individual insight every answer brought, shifting my perspective on not only the play, but my purpose for the day. This was a collective deep dive into Brecht’s script. A team effort, vanquishing any ego or pressure to perform: the day was for play and exploration. The rehearsal room comprised a central stage flanked by numerous flipcharts, each titled with a theme from the play.
When not performing, we documented any lines connected to our flipchart’s theme until a character would exit/enter (French scene) signalling ‘please dance to the next flipchart’. The pace was frenzied but focussed, and on completion we sat amongst a thematic breakdown of the script. Theme-by-theme Ricky led a group discussion informing direction, character analysis and production design.
I left the room with not only a new understanding of Brecht and the script, but a true sense of connection and ownership to LTC’s development of the play. It was a great experience and one I hope to have again soon.
I think what surprised me most about the process was the amount of humour we found whilst mining the text. When observing the work, I found so many more moments where I was chuckling to myself than I initially expected from simply reading the play. I guess this speaks hugely to the benefit of the Lazarus process, and how an on the feet reading will always bring forth so much more information that a traditional sit down table read.
It felt as though the entire narrative orbited around Gallileo. He was the centre of this universe, and all other characters and stories found their way to him. Almost like a magnet.
I think this poses a really interesting concept theatrically - we think less about creating a world and creating an environment - the protagonist simply is the world, is the environment. Food for thought. It’s always a joy to be in a Lazarus space, and the collaborative nature always makes for such interesting and full discussion that I imagine is helpful to no end when thinking about embarking on a project. It felt as though whilst we all shared key thoughts and ideas, we also noticed very different things, picking up on minute details that mattered to us or mattered to our character.
I think this play would be a corker - and importantly - make an audience really think.