Actor and Text Portfolio
This portfolio documents my practical and reflective journey across several plays, including Punk Rock, The Importance of Being Earnest, Romeo and Juliet and Me and My Girl. By combining written reflection, research and annotated scripts, I will evaluate how this project has contributed to my development as a performer.
Punk Rock
In our first ‘Actor and Text’ lecture we began to look at Punk Rock by Simon Stephens (2009). The play follows a group of A-level students in a private grammar school and explores themes of bullying, pressure and various mental struggles and the consequences of what happens when these build up. The first exercises we looked at were sight reading and table reads which involved reading aloud the script as a group with no previous preparation. Surprisingly, I enjoyed sight reading and table reads. I found since there was little time to panic and overthink, the text came more naturally to me. With each read-through I was able to dive deeper into Lily’s life, discovering new details organically. This experience has taught me that trusting the text can often lead to more honest performance choices, a skill I will carry forward when approaching new material.
After mind-mapping the given facts as well as what we have inferred from the character we began an improvisation task, placing the characters in a neutral setting and exploring conversation with each other. I personally found the improvisational task challenging, specifically, attempting to understand other characters’ traits while also staying truthful to my own. However, this difficulty has made me realise the importance of staying open and responsive rather than planning too far ahead. Upon reflection I can see how tasks such as this encourage flexibility and active listening, both of which are essential skills for an actor. One of the main devices I found useful was the ‘Magic If’. Konstantin Stanislavski (1939,pp 49) explains “if acts as a lever to lift us out of the world of actuality into the realm of imagination.” By asking myself what would Lily do or how would she react to what has been said, I was able to stop myself getting stuck in a pattern or fixated on what I was going to say next.
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (1895) is a satirical play that explores identity, truth and social appearances. With the play being a comedy of manners, some of the key elements are rhythm, irony, wit and wordplay, with the humour stemming from tension between characters’ objectives and obstacles.
Understanding objectives was essential in this text. Identifying what my character wanted overall and within each moment helped to honour the irony in the scene. We looked at the scene where Jack asks for Lady Bracknell’s approval to marry Gwendolyn. I discovered that Lady Bracknell’s overall objective in the scene is to have fun making Jack crack under pressure. I believe that she already knows the answer she will give him about the marriage and is enjoying judging his character. This became interesting when exploring emotions through the text. An exercise we tried was to play one overall emotion through the scene. After a few variations, I found that playing Lady Bracknell as rageful added an interesting depth to her objective. While she isn’t angry, I noticed that this emotion gave an extra sense of her social status and dominating nature.
Working on The Importance of Being Earnest introduced me to the precision required when handling comedic and highly structured text. Punctuation played a crucial role in shaping rhythm, timing, and character intention. Through studying this text I learned that pauses, commas, and full stops are not just grammatical choices but acting tools that influence how a line is delivered and received by an audience. In an article by Patrick Cullen (2021) it is suggested that a full stop denotes the finality of a thought or idea, while commas advise that an idea is alive and generating new thoughts. In this text Lady Bracknell’s lines contain more commas and full stops in larger sections than Jack. I interpreted this to mean that she is confident, authoritative and remains undoubtedly correct. Furthermore, analysing beats allowed me to track shifts in intention and pace to make more dynamic choices. For example, when the handbag comes into conversation, the pace slows down, then begins to pick up again with a slightly different line of thoughts hanging in the air. Going forward, I believe I will notice small punctuation choices and view them as artistic choices.
I understand the importance of analysing the text, as demonstrated by this work. Breaking down the script helped me feel more secure in my interpretation and delivery. This process prevented me from relying on generalised comedy and instead encouraged me to consider purposeful action. One element of the play I found interesting was how relevant its themes of identity and deception still feel, despite its period setting. This reiterates the fact that works from the past can have just as big a social relevance as contemporary works.
Romeo And Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a classic and well known play by William Shakespeare (1595 c.). I was happy to find that exploring Romeo and Juliet during class introduced me to working with heightened text in a physical and practical way, which was a refreshing view on how I had been exposed to the text of Romeo and Juliet previously. We began with a status walk exercise, exploring how hierarchy changes posture and gives a sense of purpose.The exercise helped me understand how I might go about creating an ensemble character, thinking about the space they take up and view the other characters in the room. To explore connecting speech to the body, we walked through the text, with each punctuation as an action. For example, on a question mark we turn, on a comma we change direction, etc. This was useful in identifying changes of thought, intention as well as helping reduce being overwhelmed by Shakespearean language.
Initially, heightened text felt intimidating, but through persevering I discovered it was more accessible than expected. After further thought the text began to look like a song with rhythm, beats, and structure guiding the performance. Understanding iambic pentameter allowed me to stay connected to the text without becoming overwhelmed by unfamiliar language. In an article by Parker Yamasaki (2023) Iambic pentameter refers to a pattern in speech that alternates between 10 stressed and unstressed syllables per line. This rhythm mimics a heartbeat, often making text feel natural and heartfelt, which is essential for Romeo and Juliet. The pattern made it start to feel like a song, however, unlike song lyrics, where it is easy to become stuck in one artistic interpretation, Shakespeare’s text encouraged flexibility.
Another tool we explored was rewriting the text in modern day language. I found this particularly helpful to understand the emotions and not get stuck behind old language, making my performance honest and bold. I was surprised how naturally the translation came to me and has made me feel confident in pursuing Elizabethan texts moving forward.
Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl is a comical musical written by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber and composed by Noel Gay (1937), set in late 1930’s London. This was the first musical text I had worked on within this module, and I was especially looking forward to exploring this text. Reading text through a musical theatre lens highlights the importance of clarity in given circumstances and storytelling. Researching the time period was also enjoyable, and this helped me quickly understand the social context and tone of the piece.
One challenge I faced was identifying given circumstances directly from the text, however, after researching world building, it was easier to identify a bit more about the characters and their situations. For example, the text states that they have roots in Lambeth, London and the use of language such as ‘coo’, ‘Ere Sally’ and ‘bally dash it’ suggests that they have strong cockney accents which provided me with a clear character choice to use this accent. Being from East London myself, I found it interesting how even though the cockney accent is still around, a lot of the language and rhyming slang has changed from the 1930s. Looking at the punctuation, I was able to infer that Sally is very sure of herself and her decisions in this part of the text. When talking to Bill, her speech has lots of full stops and short sentences. I also understood that she is extremely caring and is willing to make adjustments for other people and sacrifice her own happiness, as shown in ‘Once You Lose Your Heart’, the song that comes directly after this scene.
The practical work was exciting, and I felt more engaged than other practical work. Although I could have been more familiar with the show beforehand, my enthusiasm and willingness to explore supported my learning.
Acting Through Song
The skills developed in Actor and Text have directly supported my work in other modules, particularly Acting Through Song. For example, when looking at ‘The Lady is a Tramp’ from Babes In Arms by Rodgers and Hart, I applied text analysis techniques such as objectives and given circumstances to song lyrics. My understanding of Billie Smith’s objectives in this song was that she wanted to challenge societal norms as well as reclaim the label of ‘tramp’, taking the weight out of it and making it witty and honest. The song is about not conforming to social expectations and that valuing individuality can result in a free and happy life, therefore, world building was extremely important. Understanding the expectation of women to enjoy domesticity and yearn for materialistic things, allowed me to make clear, bold decisions.
For example, my research around these lines helped me explore my physicality in this part of the song. I decided to embody what it might feel like to wear an ermine coat and have heavy pearls around my neck. I found that I took on a pose similar to what we might see in a painting of royals. It gave me an open, assured posture and also manifested in my voice, slightly changing my accent from a strong general American accent to more of an RP accent. I think this helped to portray the comedic and mocking style of this song. This song includes lots of references to American culture such as ‘rowing on Central Park Lake’ and ‘Winchell’, thereby my research surrounding these terms helped to create an authentic and engaging performance.
Conclusion
In conclusion, research methods we used in plays like Punk Rock and Me and My Girl became key, informing my approach to world building and further character development choices and has significantly developed my skills in text analysis and reflective practice. Working across a range of styles and periods helped me to approach text with curiosity, confidence, and structure. The combination of practical exploration, stylistic research, and reflection has strengthened my ability to make bold, informed acting choices. Actor and Text has provided a foundation that will continue to support my growth as an actor across future training and performance opportunities and has strengthened my confidence in approaching unfamiliar material across disciplines. Overall I have enjoyed this semester and look forward to developing my current skill set as well as learning new skills.
1901 words (excluding Bibliography)
Bibliography
Cullen, P. (2021) Punctuation for Actors | How to Use Punctuation to Help Your Acting. StageMilk. Available online: https://www.stagemilk.com/punctuation-for-actors/.
Gay, N. and Fruber, D. (1937) Me and My Girl. London: Samuel French. Available online: https://space.leedsconservatoire.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/2369997/mod_resource/content/1/Full%20Book%20%20Lyrics%20Me%20and%20My%20Girl.pdf.
Konstantin Stanislavski (1936) An Actor Prepares. Read Books Ltd. Available online: https://www.craftfilmschool.com/userfiles/files/An%20Actor%20Prepares.pdf.
Leonard Corp, H. (1999) The Singer’s Musical Theatre Anthology – mezzo-soprano/belter, vol. 1 : Revised Edition. Hal Leonard Corporation.
Shakespeare, W. (2010) Romeo and Juliet. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Available online: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-detail?docid=do-9781408160152&tocid=do-9781408160152-div-00000039&actid=do-9781408160152-div-00000042.
Stephens, S. (2010) Punk Rock. Bloomsbury Publishing. Available online: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-detail?docid=do-9781408167250&tocid=do-9781408167250-div-00000004&actid=do-9781408167250-div-00000009.
Wilde, O. (1895) The Importance of Being Earnest. Dover Publications.
Yamasaki, P. (2023) Iambic Pentameter: Definition and Examples. Iambic Pentameter: Definition and Examples | Grammarly. Available online: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/creative-writing/iambic-pentameter/.
