Robust structure for ‘magic in the air’

As playwright Lavery suggests a rhythm, using her sense of where people’s behavior needs silence, focusing on the eloquence of movement rather than on the eloquence of words. While writing the page is a template, like the score is musically.

In rehearsal the rhythm is tried. To whether it works Lavery comments: “I’m very intuitive rather than analytical. There is the moment where suddenly like the air gets still and thicker and more granular or viscous. And you know that that is convincing. But it’s trial and error, combined with artistic taste.”

To get the ‘magic in the air’ a robust structure is necessary, argues Lavery.
Such a robust structure consists of a strong story, quite complicated characters and then good actors. Also good word of mouth, good publicity, materials, the right space to perform it in, and the right design and the right director. It’s completely collaborative.

“Fundamentally it starts with strong characters. One believes the characters because of the actions they do, which are believable. And that the actions of one character impacts on the other character and then that action impinges on the next character. And so the story builds. And so I and everybody who’s in it and everybody who’s watching it, believes the path of the story. And at the end, it’s like with kids when you tell them a story and you stop and they say ‘is that the end?’. And they know it’s the end and that’s why they ask it, because they know it.”