National Theatre

We had a collection of research material in the rehearsal room for Afterlife - books, DVDs of Salzburg festival productions of Everyman and of Max Reinhardt's film of A Midsummer Night's Dream, articles, research photos for costume etc - all of which were useful.  Michael Frayn had written an article to accompany the play and most of the actors had done differing degrees of research on the characters and the period. 

The biography of Max Reinhardt by his son Gottfried, The Genius, was consulted a lot in rehearsals, actors dipping into it to give them a more personal feel of the man, or reading large sections that covered events in the play.  There were also two books (The Light of Common Day and A Durable Fire: The Letters of Duff and Diana Cooper) about Lady Diana Cooper, Reinhardt's "trollop in London" referred to in the play, which gave a fascinating insight into Reinhardt as seen by someone adoring him from outside his circle. 

We also had two books on Reinhardt's palace, Leopoldskron, and biographies of Reinhardt  by his wife Helene and his personal assistant Gusti Adler (Wie Max Reinhardt lebte and Aber vergessen Sie nicht die chinesischen Nachtigallen).  Frustratingly, these were all in German, which none of us could speak.  Actors were often to be seen, slowly making their way through these books, trying to fathom out headings or notes on illustrations.  However, all these books were full of photographs which were constantly referred to for all sorts of reasons. There were photos of Reinhardt's productions, including ‘Everyman', of him directing, of him with Helene, photos of other characters, and of his house. These helped to give an insight into the different characters and Reinhardt's surroundings but were also used as period references; for example, one actor using them to see if the actresses of the time crossed their legs at the knee, considered a racy gesture for the rest of society. The prop department also made use of several of the books as they included photographs of Reinhardt's prompt books from different productions which were reproduced for the ‘Everyman' prompt book used on stage.  A book about Cabaret Berlin in the 1920s gave a vivid feel for the period.

In addition there was a novel by screen-writer S.N. Behrman, The Burning Glass, which has ‘Katie' Kommer as a major character, Max Reinhardt as a minor character, starts in Salzburg in the lead-up to the Anschluss, then moves to the States where exiles from the Austrian theatre are flooding, all desperately scrabbling for work. This was read by several of us in rehearsals and continues to be read now the play is up and running as it gives a real insight into what it must have felt like for the play's characters in Salzburg as the Nazi threat slowly became a reality. 

Afterlife is in rep in the Lyttelton theatre until the end of August.

Buy the playtext of Afterlife.

Read around the play...

Max Reinhardt by J.L Stayn
Illustrates Reinhardt's astonishing versatility as director of more than six hundred productions

Last Waltz in Vienna by George Clare
George Clare's incredibly affecting account of Nazi brutality towards the Jews.

The Setting of the Pearl by Thomas Weyr
This is not only the story of Nazi leaders but of how the Viennese themselves lived and died: those who embraced Hitler, those who resisted, and the many who merely, in the local phrase, "ran after the rabbit."

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