The Reading Room 2

The Reading Room is back at Live Theatre on Wednesday 28 October, the latest in a monthly series of play-reading sessions run by Alphabetti Theatre and Live Theatre. It's a collaboration between the two, and this particular session focuses on Yerma, the play by Simon Stone.

If you're not familiar with the format, a reading is exactly what it sounds like: the script is read aloud rather than fully staged, so the focus stays on the text and the voices rather than the scenery. It's a more stripped-back way of hearing a play, and because it's part of a monthly series, it's as much about the discussion that follows as the reading itself. The session is built around talking through the play, so you'll hear the lines and then get to pick them apart with other people in the room.

The play on the table this time is Yerma, Simon Stone's take on the story. Stone is known for his adaptations, and this one is his version of the classic play by Federico García Lorca. The original is a heavy, stark piece about a woman's desperate desire for a child and the social pressures that close in around her, and Stone's version brings that into a different light. It's a good one for a reading session because so much of the tension is in the dialogue and the things left unsaid, which is exactly what you notice when you're listening to a script being read aloud.

It's a mid-week one, so it's a Wednesday evening at Live Theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne. If you've been to previous Reading Room sessions, you know the drill: the reading comes first, and then the floor opens up for a proper chat about the play. If you've never been, it's a straightforward way to get into a piece of theatre without needing to have read the script beforehand. All the details are over at the Live Theatre website.