Someone asked me last week, ‘Blavatsky’s Tower? Didn’t you do that last year? How come you’re doing it again?’. The answer is, because the piece deserves it.

3 Crate have been working on and off on ‘Blavatsky’s Tower’ by Moira Buffini for a long time now, and it is a very special piece for the company. Buffini is an excellent writer (don’t take my word for it, she’s won an Olivier Award for her plays and has just finished a play with the National Theatre) and ‘Blavatsky’s Tower’ is a brilliant example of her ability to create interesting, rounded characters in a plot that presents serious events with a comic tone. Every time we have been in the rehearsal room with the text - whether back in 2012 when Peter Scott first asked a few of us actors to come to the Sherman basement and do a research and development week using the text as a tool to work with, or last year before our Chapter performances, or the past two weeks in the Llofft space prior to our tour – there are always new layers to the characters and new details to the world of the play that are being discovered. The text constantly throws surprises at us in the rehearsal room as we make new character discoveries or hear a line said in a new way that changes everything.

This is partly possible because of the way Peter is directing us in the rehearsal room. As actors, we are being allowed to play with the text constantly. The text has been broken down into sections, which we read and then improvise before coming back to the text and discussing what we have found out through the improv. Not having the scripts in our hands is so freeing, as it means that all of the actors are released to be totally ‘present’ and just react to each other. It has allowed me to find new nuances in the writing that hadn’t heard before (even after working on it previously!) and makes the piece feel alive each time. It also has brought an even greater respect for the writing. When improvising, I can feel when I get to the point that my words don’t really say everything that the character wants to say; I need Audrey’s words as they have been written by Buffini. A strange melding process takes place where the words now seem to (the character that I am playing) belong to the character, not the writer or the actor, and that words on the page really are the ones that you want say. This way of working has meant that the character that I am finding and beginning to understand (I wouldn’t claim to completely know Audrey through and through yet) is very different to the person I believed she was last year. The fact that Buffini has written character’s that are so complex is just one of the reasons why I was so excited to do this play again.

It’s not just the characters that are developing, the piece has become a completely different production to the one that 3 Crate put on last year. As our understanding of who the Blavatsky’s are deepens, the environment that they live in is developing too. The play is set solely in the Blavatsky’s top floor flat, and Peter has designed the set so that it reflects the world of the Blavatsky’s as well as their values. There are elements that are recognisable - Dada’s armchair, for example, is still prominent - but the Blavatsky values of clarity and truth are reflected through this new playing space. Audrey’s declaration to the Doctor ‘A simple clear environment leads to an inspired mind. We’ve never been made complacent by comfort’ has really infused and inspired the design. This new playing space has had a big impact on the piece, and I think that people who saw the production last year will be able to see scenes in a whole new light with the new production.

We still have just over a week left in rehearsals, and I know that there is plenty more to explore and discover in the piece. I’m so pleased to have an opportunity to re-enter ‘Blavatsky’s Tower’, and I stick by my answer that the piece deserves a new production. That is why this play deserved to tour beyond Cardiff and we can’t wait to see people’s reactions.

Views: 148

Add a Comment

You need to be a member of National Theatre Wales Community to add comments!

Join National Theatre Wales Community

image block identification

© 2024   Created by National Theatre Wales.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service