On Playing Madame Butterfly

Extract

We rehearsed here at the Bastille for eight weeks, very slowly. Every finger, every movement was specific because of the lighting. The lighting is one of the most important things in the show. He has about four hundred and fifty lights on the sides and above. We could not, for instance, be parallel to each other. We always had to be on a diagonal, because the lights from the side would shadow. My hands are very important in the production because they are lit at every angle. They are made up very much. My whole body's made up. Every gesture, every point of every finger, is at the character; and every movement reflects the light. If my fingers are open, the light comes through. If I close them, that means I'm angry and I let no light in. It's really incredible. He's a genius, the man, he's a genius.