We mourn the death of Annie Castledine, one of the world’s greatest directors. Annie passed away during the night Saturday 4th June. Her death was totally unexpected and she was working right to the end. I have known and worked closely with Annie for the last six years. For the past year, she has worked with me as Dramaturge on my play for theatre, And Then He Cried. The completed first draft of this script was considered ready for a public Rehearsed Reading. A friend has just written the following to me:
The project is her last testament with you. Remember that.
Within profound grief at the loss of her, lies the as yet small comfort – that I knew and worked intimately with her, and there will be many, many fruits to remember her by… Annie’s environment was Home. Home can be seen as a place of comfort, rest, pause in life’s work and action. There is a further meaning to the word comfort which is to accommodate extremes of discomfort, challenge, those sharp, ugly, unseen areas that sit in the wings, waiting to bite. Dealing with those, entertaining them, considering,
bearing – all this belongs to my relationship with Annie and to my mind is the greater comfort. One does not banish demons, they are to be attended to. Then, perhaps slowly, another pause takes place, which could be called comfort, wherein lies the whole cast.