On a visit to London, our friend Ernie Eban told us that a theatre group, the Cherub Players, were starting rehearsals of Marlow’s The Duchess of Malfi in an old church that had been converted into a theatre. We started shooting with no clear idea of what we were after. Both of us. The story emerged.




It was Valerie shooting backstage when Cariola gets dragged off. Capturing the miracle of an acted part becoming a reality, something that no theory of acting has a monopoly on. This was the first time that the scene had worked, at dress rehearsal. Something captured, not arranged.