Death and the Maiden: In conversation with its director

We’ve sat down with Kieran Pearson, director of Death and the Maiden, which is the first of our new-format Studio Nights, coming to Wokingham Theatre in November.

Without giving too much away, what is Death and the Maiden about?

It’s a morally complex psychological thriller that asks some very uncomfortable questions about justice, revenge and the possibility of moving on from terrible things that have happened in the past.

Set in a country emerging from dictatorship, it centres on three people whose lives become entangled in a confrontation over a terrible crime, the search for truth, and what justice might look like when the institutions that are supposed to deliver it are compromised.

Ariel Dorfman has written a play in which nothing is quite as straightforward as it first appears. It’s tense, gripping and full of twists, but underneath the thriller are much bigger questions: how do we break cycles of violence without simply perpetuating them, and how do societies move forward after periods of collective trauma?

How have you approached directing such challenging subject matter?

With a great deal of care, research and collaboration. This is a play rooted in a very real and brutal political history, and it deals with trauma, sexual violence and the psychological consequences of torture. I felt a responsibility to understand that context and to approach the material with the seriousness it deserves.

But I also didn’t want to impose easy answers on the play. One of the things I love about Dorfman’s writing is that he trusts the audience to sit with uncertainty and make up their own minds. My job isn’t to tell people what to think, but to create the conditions in which they can really engage with some difficult and, at times, uncomfortable questions.

That means working closely with the actors to build complex, psychologically credible characters, and being willing to explore emotionally raw territory in rehearsal. We’ve tried to approach the material honestly and sensitively, without ever losing sight of the humanity of the people at the heart of the story.

What have your cast been like to work with?

An absolute joy. They’ve thrown themselves into a very demanding rehearsal schedule, and I couldn’t have asked for a more committed or generous group of actors.

I’m quite an experimental director. I like to try things, challenge assumptions and really discover a scene through the rehearsal process rather than arrive with every answer already worked out. That asks a lot of actors. It requires a willingness to take risks, be vulnerable, go down the occasional dead end, abandon ideas that aren’t working, and sometimes step a long way outside your comfort zone. I hope I’ve built a safe space for the actors to work in this challenging way, and I love that, through this process, we’ve built an incredible bond of trust with each other as a group.

The cast has risen to every challenge I’ve thrown at them, with real courage, curiosity and good humour. It’s been a genuinely collaborative process: we’ve explored the characters, challenged one another’s interpretations and delved into the themes together.

I’m particularly proud of the complexity they’ve brought to their performances. These aren’t straightforward heroes and villains; they’re recognisably human people, with competing needs, contradictions and justifications. I think audiences will find these performances entirely captivating, and perhaps a little uncomfortably relatable.

This is the first of our Studio Nights. What can audiences expect?

Something a little different from a conventional Wokingham Theatre production. Studio Nights are an opportunity to explore different kinds of theatre, take creative risks and experiment with different styles of performance. Death and the Maiden is a wonderful play to launch the initiative.

We’re using a stripped-back, black-box approach, putting the focus firmly on the actors, the language and the relationships between the characters. There’s a real immediacy to that kind of theatre. You’re not watching events unfold at a comfortable distance; you’re right there in the room with these people as the tension builds.

And it’s a slightly different kind of evening out. The performances start at 8.30pm, giving audiences time to enjoy a drink and settle in beforehand. It’s an intimate, intense and thought-provoking play, and I hope people will come along with an open mind and a willingness to be challenged.

Why do you think a black-box-style production works for this show?

It comes back to the idea that compelling theatre doesn’t need to create a completely convincing illusion of reality. Making the theatricality visible can bring an audience closer to the ideas at the heart of a play.

I’ve been particularly interested in Brecht and his idea that theatre should encourage us to think critically about what we’re watching, rather than becoming so absorbed in the story that we stop questioning what we’re seeing.

With Death and the Maiden, that felt especially appropriate. We’re asking the audience to act as a kind of jury, weighing up the evidence and questioning the characters’ actions. A more naturalistic production might encourage us to forget we’re watching a play; our approach aims to keep that critical relationship alive.

The stripped-back staging also removes distractions. There’s nowhere for the actors to hide, and nowhere for the audience to hide either. You’re confronted with the people in front of you, their arguments and the choices they make. I hope that creates an atmosphere that’s both intensely theatrical and intellectually engaging.

How does it feel to be directing the first of our Studio Nights?

It’s genuinely exciting, and I feel incredibly privileged. Ariel Dorfman has given us a remarkable piece of writing, and being trusted to bring it to life as the first of Wokingham Theatre’s new Studio Nights is a real gift.

I think this is an exciting moment for our theatre and our group of creatives. Studio Nights give us an opportunity to push at the boundaries of what we do, to take creative risks and to explore work that might be different in style, scale or subject matter from our main-season productions.

I hope Death and the Maiden helps establish a tradition of ambitious, imaginative and challenging theatre here. That’s not to say those things haven’t been part of WT before – of course they have. But Studio Nights give us a chance to be creative, experiment and explore new possibilities. I’d love this to be the beginning of a long legacy of fresh ideas, adventurous productions and exciting new voices.

What have rehearsals been like?

Perhaps surprisingly, they’ve been an awful lot of fun!

Given the subject matter, you might imagine rehearsals have been relentlessly dark and serious. But when you’re exploring something this intense, it’s important to create a space where people feel safe enough to take risks, experiment and occasionally get things spectacularly wrong.

Humour is a really important part of that. It gives everyone room to breathe, and it helps us maintain the energy and perspective we need to tackle the difficult material honestly.

We’ve spent a lot of time trying things, discussing them, pulling scenes apart and putting them back together again. Some experiments have worked brilliantly; others have taken us in unexpected directions before we’ve realised they weren’t quite right. That’s the joy of the process.

The atmosphere has been warm, playful and collaborative, which I think has allowed us to go to some quite challenging places in the work itself. The subject matter is dark, but the process of making the production has been a real pleasure.

How do you hope audiences feel watching this play?

On the edge of their seats – quite literally, if I’ve done my job properly! It’s a terrific psychological thriller, and I want audiences to feel the tension, the uncertainty and the sense that everything could change at any moment.

But I also want them to leave with their brains buzzing. The play isn’t simply a puzzle about what happened; it’s about what we do when the truth is contested, when justice seems inadequate, and when the desire to put things right risks creating further harm.

I want the audience to become the judge and jury. Is Roberto guilty beyond reasonable doubt? What standard of proof should we demand before we condemn someone? And even if we believe someone is guilty, what are we entitled to do in response?

Then there are Paulina and Gerardo. Can we understand their actions without necessarily agreeing with them? What would we do if we found ourselves in their situation? And what does it really mean to end a cycle of violence, rather than simply pass it on to the next person?

How would you describe the show in three words?

Tense. Unsettling. Unforgettable.

Is there anything else you want to add?

You don’t need to arrive knowing anything about Brecht, Chilean history or political theory to enjoy this play. I hope people will come and experience it for themselves. I think Death and the Maiden is a remarkable play that really stays with you. The pleasure of theatre is that it’s a collective experience. The cast and crew have worked so hard to bring this to life, and we can’t wait to share it with an audience.

I’m incredibly grateful to the cast, crew and everyone at Wokingham Theatre who has helped bring this production together. I hope the intimacy of the staging and the choices we’ve made in presenting the story deliver a thrilling night at the theatre – and leave audiences debating the play long after they’ve left the auditorium.

Death and the Maiden opens at Wokingham Theatre on Wednesday 11 November and will run for a shorter time than normal until Saturday 14 November. It starts at the later time of 8.30, with doors opening at 7.45pm. There will be no interval and a limited amount of front of house offering available. Tickets cost just £12 and can be purchased here. We’d love to see you!