12.07.2006

Enmeshed in 'La Douleur'

La Douleur opened on Saturday July 1st at the Beckett Theatre, Malthouse. It was a strenuous lead up to opening (see La Douleur diary), and a very intense but wonderful first week, with eight shows, four reviews and lots of audience. Now I've settled down into the rhythm of performing in the evening and resting/playing/thinking/reading/working in the day time, and it feels great. It plays until 23rd July.

La Douleur Diary (written for the program)

May 8th. First read-through of the original script with Laurence. Fantastic to meet Duras' words again. Complex; precise; playful. Am very excited.

May 11th. Re-reading the novella. It's so immediate; the reader is dropped immediately and completely into Marguerite's world. The world of war, and waiting. L. and I re-drafting the script. It's becoming sparer, sharper. Had an interview about the play. Brought it home: there was war in Iraq last time we did it, and still there is this terrible, useless war. Think of Pinter's poem "Death," and Weinberger's "What I Heard About Iraq" a reading of which I did at the Courthouse in April. How many Marguerites would there be in Iraq? In East Timor?

May 15th. L very excited about Anna's ideas for the set. The design has taken a conceptual leap. It's beautiful. I have a ditch! Am reading Primo Levi's If This is a Man. Devastating.

May 18th. L. and I working on the revised draft. Labelling units. Defining and clarifying the text. I'm starting to feel Marguerite's world again from the inside. How can she do anything but wait by the phone?

May 22nd. Read through of new draft for Anna and Alex. Great feedback. We all felt the power of the story. It moves so seamlessly from the personal to the universal. We ache.

May 23rd. Getting sick. Cold taking hold. Keep falling asleep in rehearsal. Very glad I don't have Neighbours this week.

May 25th. Had to cancel everything and stay in bed for 24 hours. I finish the Primo Levi. Probably not ideal reading matter but I can't put it down. It's too huge.

May 29th. Out on the floor now. Getting the text in my body. Who is Marguerite in space? Her hands; her mind; her centre? Costume fitting. New suit is great. Starting on the Adler biography of Duras.

June 2nd. Last night I had my first dream about the play. We were sitting around a table at a friend's house. At the seaside. Having tea and cake. All of a sudden the sea started rising in the room, until it was lapping just under the level of the table. We kept eating and talking. Held by the water. It was very warm and very blue.

"When he comes back we'll go to the sea, a warm sea. He'll arrive, he'll go to the beach, he'll stand there looking at the sea."