First response
The Little Foxes is a1900 Southern American play set in Alabama and written by Lilian Hellman. It was written and published in 1939 and became a well-known three act drama which is still being revised even today!
When I was first given the play, I struggled to understand what was happening due to the barrier of language used. I proceeded to read this at least 3 times, so I had a better understanding and offered ideas when I was in the room. I was slightly concerned as I believe this play should not be done in a university setting due to the casting types. Lillian Hellman’s use of subtext and small innuendos really intrigued me, leading me to do more research into the themes of the play.
World of the play/ research
We worked as a group to do all the research needed. This process went on through 3 weeks as there were many topics to cover. We made a research wall to help us with setting, character, time, place and to see how far we have come. I found the research very intense because of the subjects of the play. We all explained to the group the different section of research. This helped me get a better understanding of the time of the play and made it less overwhelming.
Lilian Hellman based most of her plays on her past experiences. She had communist views and was a political writer. We found that the Little Foxes was based on her own distant family and its title comes from King James version of the Bible. She also wrote a prequel which goes back to Hubbard’s past.
To create the world of the play we did research on the town itself, Demopolis. We created and drew out of map of the town and where each family would live. This helped us envisage where we were. We investigated smaller details as well, like the governor at the time and political views. I looked at what items of clothes they would wear and how it would impact on their physicality and movement. This helped me embody my character a lot more.
The civil war abolished slavery in 1865 however racism and segregation went on for years after this, we reflected on this through a timeline. We found that even though it was abolished many slaves were unable to leave due to having no money. The white person would then cheat them, and they would end up in debt. This was likely the reality for Addie, a black servant of the Hubbard’s, and all the other servants mentioned. Hearing and seeing these things created a bit of a barrier for me as I am no way near the character I am playing, and struggle to see eye to eye with her language, meaning I was pushed out of my comfort zone. Lilian writes the play so that the racism is very subtle, meaning quite a lot of people look past and miss it. The research helped me reflect on how far we have come, however, also what still needs to change. I have added multiple pictures of our research below.
Birdie
I was cast at the role of Birdie.
She was married young and comes from a wealthy family who were aristocrats. When reading through the play I noticed Birdie was an alcoholic and had many mental health struggles. I imagined that Birdie had been drinking for a long time, she mentions in act 3 how her mama used to give her elderberry wine. I found, through research, that the leading cause for someone to turn to drink was domestic violence. This is what I see Birdie a victim of. Personally, I found this aspect quite hard to embody as I have not been a victim, however found many techniques through the process which helped me access these emotions including Meisner. Ideas started to form into my character analysis of possible postpartum depression, martial rape, mental health and loneliness. Women in the 1900s had little to no rights. This impacted my analysis of how she has no freedom or nowhere to get help. An image that came to my mind when describing Birdie was a bird trapped in a cage.
Process, character and scene work
This was the first time using my process on a character/play and I feel it worked well.
Each day before coming into space I would do a physical and vocal warm-up. This was needed as the accent is quite strenuous of the jaw and pronunciation was key. We would get into costumes to feel the physicality needed for our character. I felt this helped me a lot, putting on character shoes gave me a sense of better posture and daintiness.
During our initial table read we explored facts and questions. This meant that I was able to answer all the questions relevant to my character and create an in depth analysis. I created a backstory for her, relationship to self, others and Hellman’s writing of her. I put all my ideas of costume, jewellery, her colours etc. into a mood board for reference. As well as this, after each scene working with Esther I would go through my script and add my new feelings/ thoughts. This helped me remember the new feelings I had. Near the end of my process I wrote out all my lines and added the notes that I had gone through with Esther. This helped me solidify my intentions and what I needed in the scene.
I explored Stanislavski intentions and actions. I felt this really helped Birdies thoughts and feelings. Esther encouraged us to use tactics. I went through my whole script and wrote out my lines with different tactics and approaches. This helped me keep the thoughts fresh and new and the scene alive and reactive. There were points in my scene where I had no lines, which I found hard. Having intentions even in silence helped me reflect how she is always silenced even though she has things to say.
When doing my Lionett speech I used different intentions to break up the lines and differentiate. To start I researched cotton mills and plantations so I could have a understanding of where she grew up. Birdie is very naïve to the racism and made me wonder why? It made me think of her childhood trauma which she had blocked.
In my speech Esther helped me understand how I know I am going to get shouted at; however, this is the only opportunity I have to say how I feel. The idea that if nobody interrupted me it would be one long monologue meaning I needed to pick up my queues and stay in the mindset of what I wanted. I used the “yes and” game on myself to elevate the speech and keep it reactive to my own thoughts. This technique really helped me achieve what I wanted in that scene.
We did an exercise to help our tactics. We had one-line which we would say in character to everyone in the class and see if you get the response you wanted. This helped me work a lot harder for what I wanted and how I was going to achieve this/exploring new ways. Reflecting on my personal journey and the chance of using all of the techniques, I believe that LABAN was very helpful for me over the process. It helped build a lot of depth in a character. I had never done LABAN before, so this was my first opportunity to really explore. On each line I would try a new effort to explore different internal and external characteristics. I found that flick helped me the most by being always off centre. It helped bring out anxiety, nervousness and the impact of alcohol. I then used UTA HAGEN 9 questions to make sure I had an understanding of people, places and things.
We played lots of games which connected to different feelings in the play. One game was the snake in the grass. This helped with our tactics to stay safe and the goal of not getting caught. I thought this connected a lot with birdie and how she is always walking on eggshells with Oscar. It helped me access that Inner fear is always present within her.
We also looked at “what can you do?” game. This was us dropping each other in the shit to make us not think about our next move. This helped me connect with the other characters in the play as all the responses are live in that moment, and you don’t know what the other character might do to you.
Over the 5 weeks, I found Birdie had a lot more depth to the eye and as I worked more on her, I found different traits to her.
Script Work
Feedback
On one scene we were quite stuck on the staging. We were reminded of the stakes and what we wanted from each other. Each line I would say my tactic, if my partner was effected, she would move closer to me. This helped the stakes, evaluating truly what I wanted of the situation and my relationship exploration with Zan. Esther told me to look at my inner thoughts on the line “where is Zan?” This helped me say my thoughts out loud, ignoring Oscar. The feeling of being embarrassed and guilt that I had ruined everything arose. I used this to help give a small pause before exiting again creating the effect that Oscars words had on me. I had some feedback from Jess to use more muscularity in my voice, so I worked on adding more articulate exercises to my warmup.
Breakthrough moments and challenges
One big challenge for me was the fight scene. I had never done this kind of work before, and I was very worried about it looking realistic. We started by doing a slow process of mapping out the action. We walked through it speaking about each action we would take. Then we tried it at 50% 75% and 100%. After a few rehearsals with just Esther, myself, Becca and Ben I felt a lot more confident. I was very nervous about the response to the slap, but found by going with my impulses it came naturally. A breakthrough moment is when we did it in a full run. I felt the ‘slap’ take over my entire body and immersed myself in it, creating the response of my hand to shake. After this point I started to believe in myself and trust what I was doing. We made sure we did a check out each time which was also useful. We looked at the scene straight after this and Esther encouraged me to use 3 different tactics. This helped me break up the line, bring it back into space but still give an authentic performance.
Another breakthrough for me was impulses. In a scene I wanted to move towards my partner but stopped myself. Esther explained that impulses are the best thing an actor can follow so I used this throughout all my scenes. This made me reflect on the realisation that I am the character now and my impulses and instincts are hers.
As a group we had lots of challenges to overcome, meaning we had to be very adaptable. We talked about how we can make the play meet everyone’s needs. We decided to make the racism more visible, so it is not missed and not excused. Becca wrote an amazing speech before the show began explaining our issues with casting, the play and questioning why it has been chosen. Addie would sit in the audience observing, making them question why they are just standing by? At the end of the play, she takes off her apron and walks out of the room where we proceeded to follow her meaning we had no bows. This created a message that the response was taken out of the audiences hands, and just like Addie they had no say. I felt this was a very powerful and resilient movement from all our group.
Evaluation and reflections.
Overall, I am proud of what I have achieved. This was my first time doing a whole play and being in a professional rehearsal room. I explored new works of LABAN and really threw myself in to all the exercises. I am so grateful for my group who worked so well on making the best out of this performance, and having a space where I don’t have imposter syndrome! My goal for a future project is to not be afraid to offer big ideas and to have the confidence to try something completely new! I would also be interested in Assistant directing and more political plays.
This process has helped me understand how important character prep and my own process is. I’ve learned a lot about myself as an actor. I can adapt well, learn lines in a certain period and overall trust myself and my instincts. This project has helped me remind myself of why I am here, to spread powerful and uncomfortable messages to audiences.
