Signature: How did The Open House begin?
Will Eno: There was a big part that was just,
there was this play I wanted to write and
I had this idea that didn’t go away. I have
this wonderful residency here where I
have the luxury of some time and support
and some very smart, very good people.
So I felt encouragement, if not some gentle, gentle prodding, from Jim Houghton
and Signature. But it really was just, I had
this idea and started writing and then later
started to work with [director] Oliver Butler doing some readings here at Signature.
Will Eno, 2013.
It’s really great working with Oliver, I think
he’s an absolute gent of a person and a
really, really smart director. And how the
play has developed over the last year, with
pretty low-key little quiet readings here
at Signature, has been really great and I
couldn’t think of a better way to work on
the thing. I’m excited about it, just because I have my idea of what this thing
is about and what it represents and what
it feels like to watch. But the magic and
the beauty of doing something with an
audience is that it‘s the final element and
that’s when the experiment gets going.
And it’s not even complete then, because
it starts again the next night. So I’m excited to start previews and performances.
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