Brian Beacom

MADELEINE Knight’s acountant brother-in-law has made a big impression upon the actress in recent time.

It has nothing to do with financial advice, as it happens, or revealing arithmetical astuteness.

The moment came about when he came to see her star in her latest play, Birdsong.

And declared he shouldn’t have come at all.

“My brother-in-law gave me the greatest feedback ever,” she says in bright voice.

“Now, this man is a non-creative, and he only came to be supportive.

“But he came out of the theatre and said to me in a disturbed voice; ‘I just don’t understand why people go to the theatre if they’re going to come out feeling like this.’

“He was upset and clearly really moved. And not used to getting such an emotional reaction. In fact, he said he’d rather watch a comedy.

“But what was great about this conversation for me was that there’s little doubt the story had a real effect on him, empathising perhaps with what people went through during wartime.”

Birdsong, the stage adaptation of Sebastian Faulks classic novel, is set in pre-war France.

Young Englishman Stephen Wraysford goes to work in Amien in 1910 and embarks upon a passionate and dangerous affair with the beautiful Isabelle Azaire.

But the affair turns their worlds upside down.

“The story is told through a sequence of flashbacks,” says Madeleine.

“It follows Stephen through WWI in the trenches, and then in flashbacks, he’s reminded of Isabelle, who I play.”

Stephen must lead his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and through the sprawling tunnels that lie deep underground.

Faced with the unprecedented horror of the war, Stephen clings to the memory of Isabelle and the idyll of his former life as his world explodes around him.

But those happy times with his lover were also traumatic, given Isabelle is a married woman.

“She was a caged bird trapped in a loveless marriage with an abusive husband,” says Madeleine.

“She was once a wild spark and this vibrant, caring, very passionate woman is still in there somewhere.

But the problem for a woman of that time trapped in a loveless marriage is what can you do?”

Madeleine adds; “The stakes were extremely high and women were so pinned down.

“Women who had an affair would be castigated and could become something of a social outcast.”

Women of the period were more likely to accept domestic abuse.

The roots of the abusive marriage aren’t overly dealt with in the play but this much older man does belittle his wife.

He brainwashes her into questioning her own validity as a woman and a human being.

Was it a form of gaslighting, the term used for systematic psychological manipulation. (The word appeared in the lexicon in the forties, after the release of the classic movie featuring Ingrid Bergman. )

“Yes, it is gaslighting,” says Madeleine.

“This is a woman who’s spirit is crushed. And because we live in religious times, we get a real sense of this in the play.”

The actress admits it’s tense, difficult piece to play out.

“Yes, there is an element of this that gets into your bones. But that’s interesting for me. I haven’t worked at this level of emotional drama for a long time.

“You have to put your emotions on the surface.”

She thinks for a moment; “I remember I worked on a play a play called Kinder Transport, which we were rehearsing in a freezing basement in January with pics of the holocaust all around the walls.

“I played a character who denied her past. And that was traumatic.”

Has Madeleine always wanted to act?

“Oh, yes,” she enthuses, offering a knowing grin..

“When I was about six I appeared in a local town hall play and I decided to give my character a lisp.

“I got lots of laughs and I thought ‘Ooh, I like this feeling. I like it a lot.’”

She adds; “I wanted to go to drama college but my parents weren’t so keen so I went to Durham University to study Politics, Philosophy and History at Durham.

“But I think I spent most of my time appearing in plays.

“That was my real focus. and it’s no surprise my closest friends are those from my extra curricular activities at Durham. In fact, the director of this show was at Durham.”

Since drama college , Madeleine has worked constantly in theatre and in film, with the likes of Florence Foster Jenkins.

“I regret not going to so many politics lectures,” she says, grinning. “But I do love what I do.”

Does the lisp ever appear nowadays?

“Not in this play,” she says, laughing. “But it’s always there if I need it.”

*Birdsong, The Theatre Royal, until Saturday.