Seb Harcombe on The Illusion: Week 2

Seb is the Director of the BA Acting Course and is directing the London premiere of Tony Kushner's version of Corneille's THE ILLUSION this summer at Southwark Playhouse - with a cast of RADA graduates, as part of a new initiative to develop a professional RADA graduate company.

We've been rehearsing for just over a week now, hermetically sealed away in the Gielgud Theatre at RADA, and every day I find myself amazed by the work the actors are doing. Most of them are already off book, which is incredibly early - but testament to how much work each of them has done. It's also allowed us to cover quite a surprising amount of ground already; which is encouraging, given the relatively brief rehearsal period we have.

It's been a joy so far actually - and there's a real sense of trust and freedom in the room, partly because most of us know each other, and each other's work, pretty well. So we've also had plenty of time for games - and developed lots of increasingly complex variants, against a backdrop of music by Handel and Rameau, as we're also working on a dance.

Because the actors are so familiar with the text already, we've also been able to do some rehearsing in the dark, which is always useful in stimulating a heightened awareness of the music of the text; it's particular rhythms, colours, flow and nuances. We've found it interesting how un-English it feels, and have been working to drop into atmospheres and moods that are particular to this kind of French repertoire - its emotional fluidity, passionate drive, precision and delicacy. Its unbelievably beautiful and affecting when hit right, and this is a responsibility shared by all of the cast. It's very much an ensemble piece in that regard ...

The characters and their entangled relationships are all starting to develop beautifully and the actors are continually excavating, finding layer beneath layer. It's such challenging material which can slip through the fingers in a moment and requires a heightened concentration and focus and an emotional precision, as well as a need to sustain deep feelings in long, complex arcs - and which also can change in a heartbeat, or get covered up with artifice and half truth.

So, so far so good anyhow. We may well hit a few walls this week, but we're all getting quietly excited. For all its melancholy and mystery the play is laced through with a wonderful wit and humour that's keeping us all giggling in rehearsals.

We're off to rehearse in St James Theatre next week - a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace! They've been kind enough to give us a week as the first company in their brand new theatre, to try out all of their equipment - so it should be fun. It's also nearer in size to Southwark, so it'll also be very useful ...

southwarkplayhouse.co.uk