The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-27)

21

EZ

THE

WASHINGTON

POST

.

FRIDAY,

MAY

27, 2022

actually cramp your inventive-

ness. If you can afford to create a

real tree or a real house, you lose

the ability to show the audience

how one thing can turn into

something else: a bunch of ropes

into a yew tree, a pile of chairs

into a home. Audiences, especial-

ly young audiences, are more

willing to make those leaps than

we give them credit for.

“It’s not about naturalism,”

Cookson says. “It’s about allowing

the audience to see through the

tricks to see how they’re done.

That doesn’t stop the audience

from going with us and believing

there is a giant onstage. It takes

them back to the dressing-up box

at home as a kid, when they

transformed themselves into an

animal or another being. I love

the idea of kids seeing this on-

stage and going home to re-create

the same images. At that point,

it’s no longer an elite art form. It’s

for anyone.”

projection because that felt like a
cop-out.
“During lunchtime, a stage
manager found a big heap of
ropes that weren’t being used. It
took all of us to haul all these
ropes onto the stage. Once we had
these 20 ropes hanging from the
ceiling, it was an epiphanal mo-
ment. Just by wrapping the hang-
ing ropes inside a loose rope, we
could make a glorious tree — and
just as quickly unmake it or
change it into many different
kinds of trees.”
Cookson’s version of “A Mon-
ster Calls,” at the Kennedy Center
through June 12, is a perfect
example of the director’s theatri-
cal methodology. Whether she’s
adapting Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane
Eyre,” Federico Fellini’s “La Stra-
da” or “A Monster Calls,” she
prefers to start without a script.
Instead, she encourages the cast
and crew to improvise action and
design, as well as dialogue, to find
the best way to tell the story.
“I see my role as an enabler, a
facilitator,” she explains. “I try to
make the rehearsal room feel
safe. The rule is anyone can say
anything, anyone can do any-
thing, and no one’s going to make
fun of them. Because of that,
people feel free to fly. If people
feel safe, they come up with amaz-
ing things. I’m always astonished
by the ideas that come out of
development. How can I bring a
tree to life onstage? How can I get
the ideas out of this young boy’s
head onto the stage? I might have
my own answers, but it’s always
better to talk it out with a room of
people.”
Films, she adds, can do natu-
ralism so brilliantly that she’s not
interested in competing on those
terms. In fact, she says, having a
big budget for a stage show can

MONSTER FROM 19

MANUEL HARLAN

Keith Gilmore, left, and

Anthony Aje in “A Monster

Calls.” The story centers on

a 13-year-old British boy

trying to cope with his

mother’s cancer.

On Stage

“If people feel safe, they

come up with amazing

things. I’m always

astonished by the

ideas.”

Sally Cookson, director of “A

Monster Calls”

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21-0135

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