Preview: Black Mountain

Brad’s writing has a kind of quiet precision to it. It’s economical, but loaded. He doesn’t over explain, which means the actors and the audience have to do some work. That’s where it becomes alive.

There’s also a rhythm to his dialogue that I really respond to. It can feel naturalistic one moment and then suddenly tip into something more heightened or unsettling. That balance between the familiar and the strange is where the play really lives for me.

At its core, the play is about three people who are bound together by a shared past, but who have very different relationships to it. You have characters who are trying, in different ways, to assert control both over their own narratives, over each other, and over what is or isn’t true. As the play unfolds, those attempts start to fracture.

Thematically, it explores our openness to emotional honesty and truth when relationships are at their most testing. There’s also something in there about complicity and how we participate in shaping each other’s realities, sometimes without fully realising it.

With a small cast, there’s nowhere to hide, in a good way. Every shift in energy, every line, every silence carries weight. It’s been incredibly rewarding.

What it allows for is a really forensic level of detail. We’ve been able to spend time testing different interpretations, and building a shared understanding of what’s happening beneath the text.

It also creates a kind of intimacy in the room, which I think translates directly to the audience.

It’s been a really positive experience. There’s a strong sense of commitment and generosity within the theatre, which makes a huge difference when you’re putting something together.

Everyone is there because they care about the work, and that creates a really good environment.

Unsettling. Intimate. Disturbing.