Jun 29, 2026 · 1 hr 10 min · 9 segments
In this episode of *Theatrically Authentic*, Sarah Atherton-Knight and Simon Scott continue their exploration of why theatre can feel both regulating and overwhelming for neurodivergent people. From…
Sarah Atherton-KnightHost
Simon ScottHost
And we're gonna start at a position where we left off, which is where shows are developed, which is the rehearsal room.
And I'm intrigued, Sarah, simply because I have spent a lot of time in a rehearsal room and sort of sat in the tech week just waiting for things to happen, whereas you have been in the complete reverse of that.
So what is your experience as a technical production sort of side of the industry with the rehearsal room?
It is usually first day of tech, we meet everyone, and we go, "Okay, what's going on?" Obviously, there is slight differences if it's a new show.
Sometimes we mo- might go sit in on a read-through or a run-through sort of thing, but generally speaking, we are quite separate.
Um, however, I was lucky enough, uh, to work with Jamie Lloyd, and he actually has sound in the rehearsal room from day one.
And I know a lot of people have a lot of different opinions about Jamie.
He can be kind of a polarizing a, uh, polarizing person in theater, but I actually really loved watching his process and watching how it shaped the final product because, like I said, we don't normally get to see any of that.
Like, and I, I genuinely mean that with the utmost sincerity because there is so much work that s- people [laughs] don't see that goes into creating a show and creating a believable piece of work in, in whatever capacity.
Um, so it was really fun just kind of going in and seeing how people would approach the work, would h- kind of how everyone discusses the text.
Obviously, we were doing Shakespeare, so kind of looking at the historical context as well as what are we doing with our version and why is it different and sort of things like that.
And it was really nice from a neurodivergent point of view because it meant that I got to build relationships earlier with people, which again is something we don't normally do.
It's, you know, you meet people in tech, and you're like, "Hi, nice to meet you.
We're gonna do this, like, now, and we'll figure out our friendship later," sort of thing, or whatever capacity of relationship we have later sort of thing.
I'm gonna f- you know, faff with your hair or faff with your headset or whatever.
I'm gonna be, you know, putting things, you know, on your lower back, like mic packs and stuff.
Are you cool with that? You know, we've never met," [laughs] sort of thing.
So it was nice to kind of build that relationship before then being like, "Hi, I'm gonna put a microphone on you," in the way that we normally do and in the time constraints that we normally do.
And we're gonna start at a position where we left off, which is where shows are developed, which is the rehearsal room.
And I'm intrigued, Sarah, simply because I have spent a lot of time in a rehearsal room and sort of sat in the tech week just waiting for things to happen, whereas you have been in the complete reverse of that.
So what is your experience as a technical production sort of side of the industry with the rehearsal room?
It is usually first day of tech, we meet everyone, and we go, "Okay, what's going on?" Obviously, there is slight differences if it's a new show.
Sometimes we mo- might go sit in on a read-through or a run-through sort of thing, but generally speaking, we are quite separate.
Um, however, I was lucky enough, uh, to work with Jamie Lloyd, and he actually has sound in the rehearsal room from day one.
And I know a lot of people have a lot of different opinions about Jamie.
He can be kind of a polarizing a, uh, polarizing person in theater, but I actually really loved watching his process and watching how it shaped the final product because, like I said, we don't normally get to see any of that.
Like, and I, I genuinely mean that with the utmost sincerity because there is so much work that s- people [laughs] don't see that goes into creating a show and creating a believable piece of work in, in whatever capacity.
Um, so it was really fun just kind of going in and seeing how people would approach the work, would h- kind of how everyone discusses the text.
Obviously, we were doing Shakespeare, so kind of looking at the historical context as well as what are we doing with our version and why is it different and sort of things like that.
And it was really nice from a neurodivergent point of view because it meant that I got to build relationships earlier with people, which again is something we don't normally do.
It's, you know, you meet people in tech, and you're like, "Hi, nice to meet you.
We're gonna do this, like, now, and we'll figure out our friendship later," sort of thing, or whatever capacity of relationship we have later sort of thing.
I'm gonna f- you know, faff with your hair or faff with your headset or whatever.
I'm gonna be, you know, putting things, you know, on your lower back, like mic packs and stuff.
Are you cool with that? You know, we've never met," [laughs] sort of thing.
So it was nice to kind of build that relationship before then being like, "Hi, I'm gonna put a microphone on you," in the way that we normally do and in the time constraints that we normally do.
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