Heart of Darkness is perhaps Joseph Conrad's most famous work, inspiring Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalyse Now. The novel follows the journey of Marlow, an English sailor, travelling up the Congo searching for the elusive ivory dealer Mr Kurtz. It was George Johnston, a Cambridge University alumnus, who noticed that the first person narrative might welcome theatrical interpretation. His decision to adapt the novel into a continuous monologue allows Marlow to be both narrator and protagonist in his engrossing journey into the dark, greedy heart of British colonialism.

After a successful run in Cambridge in 2013, the production is heading north to this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The show is, at its heart, one individual's very personal story, but arguably it isn't a one-man show at all. Marlow narrates his life as an English sailor and, in the process, recalls all of the varied characters that populate his memories. Guy Clark, reprising the role of Marlow, must assume multiple different roles and portray the individuality of each character without subordinating the overarching narratorial voice.

Conrad's prose is brilliant. It's a glimpse into the visceral reality of the colonial nightmare that rarely gets represented in classic literature (and even more rarely on stage). The adaptation remains loyal to Conrad's original text, using much of his own language to narrate the events which take place. Yet, this show achieves something that the book doesn't: it shows you the man at the heart of the story and the massive psychological toll that these experiences have upon a human being. Marlow wrestles with his own memory, attempting to justify and explain Mr Kurtz, as well as their relationship.

Johnston's adaptation reorganises the narrative, clarifying it for the audience by creating a more linear structure, while staying faithful to the original text. This close relationship between the novel and the stage adaptation has formed part of our discussions in rehearsal, especially when we were looking at sections of the script which deal with characters that Marlow meets on his journey. The script requires the actor to 'take-on' these personas and in creating these characters, we have been keen to return to the novel to discover how they were depicted; what mannerisms and accents might augment their representation.

Rehearsing Heart of Darkness has been an amazing experience. If you consider the allocated rehearsal time in a larger production, then those hours are unevenly split across individual cast members. A show with one 'main' character and a supporting cast will dedicate a much more significant amount of time and rehearsal to developing the protagonist than it will to individual supporting roles. The luxury with Heart of Darkness is that every single rehearsal is dedicated to the same actor. This can, of course, be quite intense and demanding for both myself and Guy, but it also allows rehearsal to become very fluid: we are not bound to a schedule and therefore are gifted unlimited freedom with our rehearsal time. There is nothing stopping us from taking breaks if a section has been particularly exhausting, there is nothing stopping us from spending a long time talking about the characters, the imagery and the novel, and there is nothing stopping us from abandoning structured rehearsals to watch accent coaching videos on YouTube.

With this freedom, there is a very different sort of discipline required to make sure the show is reaching certain targets at certain points. Yet more importantly, it allows us to go far beyond the text and consider our roles as actor and director in a much deeper and theoretical fashion than I've ever been able to before.

Maddie Skipsey is the director of Heart of Darkness, which runs from 7th-29th August (excluding 9th and 23rd) at 8.15pm (50 mins) in Space Triplex Studio.