Initial Responses
When initially reading this play, I found myself being drawn to the role of Agatha as I usually play an older character. Due to time restrictions, we did not audition for our roles in The Moors – instead it was precast by Sean. Despite feeling like we were a step behind the other projects, it enforced us as an ensemble to be determined and extremely dedicated to the project, creating a positive energy in the room. My process when first receiving a new text follows three steps; reading the play in my head, followed by aloud with others – often non-actors allowing me to pick up on brand new interpretations, followed by aloud with the cast. I was given the role of Emilie, a multicast character which was initially a challenge as I wondered how I would successfully create tension throughout my scenes without performing in every scene.
Character Exploration
I have chosen to portray Emilie as an innocent, naïve and excitable woman who ‘wants to be liked’. Emilie’s entrance comes half way into Scene One and must create excitement and warmth; a different energy than what was in the house before. Relationships in this play are key, and understanding communication levels and barriers between each character is vital in portraying my objectives. The relationship between Emilie and the Mastiff is interesting as it contrasts to the relationships that all the other characters had with him. Emilie speaks to him, cares for him and gives him attention whereas Agatha starkly contrasts this, shouting and ‘hissing’ directly in his face. The Mastiff tries to communicate back to humans but instead all we hear is barking. This made me question whether that’s how Emilie feels as a governess – that she hears everything but doesn’t have a voice in social changes – she doesn’t fit into a societal standard. Using the Stanislavski technique of circles of attention, it allowed me to focus on whether I was focussing on myself, the close people around me – being Agatha and the Mastiff or focussing on the wider space around me – the Moors out of the window.
Research
Research is a big part of my process as an actor, aiding me to unlock details about how a 1840’s governess would behave, move and speak. I discovered the expectations of a governess; to teach the three R’s, to support and mentor young women to find ‘fitting’ husbands and to supervise lessons (see 1b). As well as online research, reading and watching period movies such as Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre really supported my ideas on how one would interact with masters and mistresses and how the flaws in finding love are presented. Alongside characteristics I found the storylines had parallels with hidden people in attics, love affairs and the ideals of life. I discovered similarities between Emilie and Anne Brontë, both being a governess, often overlooked and not having a specific class to fit into socially.
Accents
Performing in a general American accent was one of my biggest struggles during this project. One of my breakthrough moments was when I realised that understanding the theory of an accent allowed me to access the correct placement of my tongue and mouth creating a more accurate accent. I can now hear where I make a mistake and know how to fix it; a wrong ‘T’ or not remembering a ‘dark L’ especially when listening back to recordings of my accents (see 2).
My Process Development
In preparation for our first rehearsals, I made sure to research the playwright, the actors who performed in the debut performance and also themes that came up throughout my first read (see 1a,1c,3b). Before starting the day, I created a to-do list which would assist my performance and keep me focussed which included running lines, discussing character questions, or researching governesses in 1840. A new technique of breaking the rhythm of text was to sing my lines, this also supported my general American accent – to remember to jump in pitch rather than slur as it is a ‘minor key’ accent.
A pivotal moment in my acting process was questioning the classes choice on where a new unit begins. I discovered that all the characters’ objectives had changed and gave reasoning to why. In the end the class agreed with me which is a progression in my acting process as in the past I have only ever raised a question when I am certain. Alongside units, I used given circumstances (see 3c) to help define what Emilie’s life would look like. I also wrote questions and queries I had regarding Emilie and her lifestyle.
I then decided to answer these throughout the three-week process. I left some unanswered to aid the mystery of the performance which I found helpful as it allowed me to embody Emilie’s character with more precision (see 3a,3c). Uta Hagan’s technique of the Fourth Side allowed me to create a larger world for the audience and allow me to have more fun as an actor; does Emilie look in the ‘mirror’ or out the ‘window’? In discussion with the other actors who played the role of Emilie, we spoke about the through line of action.
Scene Work and Preparation
Blocking is something that I have struggled with in the past as I always focussed on the present that I sometimes found myself forgetting the note prior. To combat this and aid my development I have been taking voice notes and writing down notes immediately– and if I am not in a position to do so I will ask someone to be my scribe. I also mapped out Emilie’s emotional journey for my scenes and physically plotted it out on a diagram which helped me visualise where she succeeded and where she plateaued (see 4c,4d).Sean has a different style of directing to what I have encountered before, he asks lots of questions that require a multitude of research to have been done to answer successfully. This has meant that I need to be in a position each morning that is fully prepared to go into depth about a character and the reasons behind the chosen characteristics. Some days this has been challenging due to being stressed or tired, but I have learnt when to give my 50%, 75% or 100% and to make sure I look after myself throughout.
Emilie’s Physicality
After researching governesses in the 1800’s I had a strong idea of what their physicality would be like; strict upright posture, hands in front of you, shoulders down and head poised. However, as we are performing in a strange/alien world, the physicality didn’t always abide by the expectations in 1840. I interpreted that Emilie doesn’t agree with the social attitudes of this moment in time, she is open to same – sex relationships and believes women should have more power. Despite her internal opinions Emilie must abide by 1840 social standards which in turn creates her character duality, which was really interesting to play around with and find the correct balance. A way I accessed these are through Laban efforts of glide and slash – using work from Jen’s movement classes to create a slash internally and a glide externally.
Response to Feedback – Highlights and Challenges
Feedback has been really vital in this process; from both directors and peers with the standout piece being to make bolder choices and realising how this aids other performers in the performance. Sean gave me a note on being aware when I break up thoughts as sometimes it halts the flow of my lines. This was interesting as in a previous class I was told to break up thoughts more and this contrast made me question why I do this. I realised I was breaking up thoughts to create more dynamics within a sentence but by trying to add colour to the lines it actually took the audience out of the story.
Throughout my first year, a main piece of feedback I received was about making bold decisions and as I was given a character that was meant to be ‘normal’, I found it hard to balance the idea of being idealistically normal and still make bold choices. I made progress in and out of the class, by using techniques to create the biggest character of myself and then reducing it down. I suggested the idea that Emilie could have an overly loud and obnoxious laugh to demonstrate her awkwardness as a character. As she is the most ‘normal’ character in the play I sometimes found my character didn’t have as much depth to it as I would have hoped for. After trying it out, I felt that it did not serve the scene and instead added more comedy, and it didn’t feel rooted enough to be successful.
In regard to accents, I discovered that there was one vowel shape that I kept using the wrong placement for. To help refine my work, I took Jess’ advice and watched videos of American accents and watched how their mouths moved when speaking to try and see a visual change between English and American as well as an aural change. During our 1-1, Jess concluded that I had a well-balanced accent and supported it with lots of energy which is evident in my portrayal of Emilie.
Personal Reflection
My understanding of Emilie evolved as I created a 3D version of her; discovering what her voice sounded like, her mannerisms, her proximity to other characters and how she would present herself. To start, I found the play confusing as it was set in the Yorkshire Moors, but everyone had American accents, and I felt that this potential supernatural world would be difficult to interpret. However, I found the freedom enjoyable, choosing the setting, costumes and mannerisms whilst being supported by 1840’s England history and morals (see 3b). During this project I focussed on improving my accent whilst performing naturalistically. This was successful as I performed all my scenes without losing focus or breaking the accent. I have begun to make bigger decisions in my performance and now understand how crucial the balance of using and not using silence is. Having a strong relationship with a director was key in this process and enabled me to ask many questions about the play, the characters and my process.
After surgery, I lost stamina in my body and at the start of the project I often found it difficult to keep physically and mentally focussed, however in the final week this was no longer an issue. I am proud of my process and ability to adapt and look after myself as a performer.
A breakthrough moment was when I was working on character relationships and choosing what characters see and what the audience see and noticing how a slight change of smile, eye contact or physical movement can shift the whole scene. This was evident when reading a letter centre stage with Huldey creeping behind, as the audience saw my nervous face drop and Huldey saw me smile.
Sean did not tell us how the final piece would look, which pushed me out of my comfort zone as I like order and knowing where performances will lead. The structure of the sessions were new to what I have participated in before with Sean asking lots of questions about why or what we are doing to inform our choices. Sometimes it made the process feel slow, but I was resilient with the process, and I believe that using new techniques and trying out different styles has made me a more adaptable performer. I felt ready to perform when our exam came round, but still had the adrenaline of trying something new.
One of my main strengths in this project was listening and responding to feedback from Sean and Jess. I am confident in my ability to change ideas and not just repeat the same thing each time I perform. This is a technique derived from Mike Alfred’s – being different every night. In the next project I would like to push myself to use more absurd physical characteristics and see how far I can push my body in creating bigger acting choices. I plan to stretch and do a longer physical warm up in my next project, and start to think about different postures, walks and idiosyncrasies that could still relate to Shakespearean characters.
My key takeaways are to continue to take more risks and stand up for ideas that I may have throughout a performance process. I have learnt that I enjoy changing my acting choices as it creates more excitement for me, the director and the other actors alongside me. This has inspired me to think outside the box when I have freedom to move, such as using parts of the set and different staging to add to the text and scene. Overall, it has been a very enjoyable, successful and personally explorative project, both in working independently and as an ensemble.
The Moors Cast:
