The Moors – Jen Silverman
Directed by Sean Linnen
Initial Response And Understanding The Text
Once we were given the play I initially read it through a few times, first to get a feel of the world in which the play is set, the different characters and how they fit into the bleak world of The Moors, and then to focus more on the underlying themes within the play and the repeating motifs within certain characters and each separate development.
The Moors is a strange, almost absurdist play with many themes and events needing at least more than one read-through to fully understand. This is not, however, because the writing of Jen Silverman is not clear or calculated. Silverman is very specific in choosing what is revealed and when, and most importantly how; perfectly creating a strong dynamic for both the characters and the actual setting of the moors itself throughout the play. While it is set in the 1800s, Silverman is very careful to have the audience know that The Moors is not intended to be entirely a period piece. At the very beginning in the stage directions she makes sure to mention that “the characters all have contemporary accents native to the country of production (American, Australian, etc.) No ‘period piece’ accents – this play is about the present.”
While we were unable to speak in our own native accents due to the production being the American Play part of the module, it did mean that American accents of any kind were not out of place, and the piece felt even more like an inbetween of modern day and the world of the 1800s.
During the first few days of rehearsal we dedicated a lot of time to reading through the text round a table in our respective characters. This was time consuming and sometimes felt monotonous due to the excessive repetition, however in the end it was absolutely necessary to fully understand the whole play and all the characters and nuances throughout, as there were many things which needed at least one extra read to properly understand and take in.
From these table reads I was able to discover new things about The Mastiff that I would not have considered before, and see the subtle foreshadowing at play, especially after reading it fully with everyone in character; meaning that I was able to go even more in-depth with my character preparation.
Character Work and Accents
We were given our respective castings a few days before going into rehearsals, which felt somewhat strange as usually there would be an audition involved and we would be given more time to familiarise ourselves with our characters before starting the rehearsal process, however it wasn’t too bad for me personally as I had this same experience last year with the other American Play, Machinal. I was very pleased with my casting of The Mastiff in scenes 4 – 6 as I felt it was certainly a character that I would not only enjoy playing, but could also enjoy getting to know and connecting with on a somewhat deeper level. It also meant that I was not the first person in the play to portray The Mastiff when it finally came to performing, so I felt more confident knowing that the audience had already been able to familiarise themselves with the character, but also knowing that some parts of either my scenes or later Mastiff scenes might cut just that much deeper and be somewhat more unexpected as the audience was already able to feel that they knew his character.
Completely getting into the headspace of The Mastiff was challenging at first and did take some time, but eventually something really clicked and I felt as though I was able to really step into the shoes of the character and think and feel how he would. It was interesting watching the other two versions of The Mastiff, seeing the subtle nuances in movement, voice and overall character that each of us was able to portray and borrow from one another as I feel that each one, while clearly the same character, had a few certain subtle differences which really made the character our own.
Accents for this specific play were an interesting case as there were no set accents like last year due to the nature of the play and the fact that it is set wherever it’s being performed. We had to choose from one of three American accents (General American, Southern or New York) and it was very interesting finding out what people chose for certain characters; however I feel as though every accent choice perfectly fit whichever character was being portrayed. For example The Moorhen was mostly portrayed with a Jewish-American New York accent, whereas characters like The Mastiff and Huldey mostly went with a strong Southern accent. Characters like Emily and Agatha were consistent in having a General American, almost Transatlantic, accent which I think fitted their separate characters and portrayals very well, as it showed their somewhat uptight attitude especially when considering society, and (especially in Agatha’s case) the social tendencies and ideals of the upper-class.
I made the choice to have The Mastiff speak with a strong Southern American accent as I felt as though it was the one that best fitted his character, and was helpful in getting across his more free and roaming lifestyle (especially compared to other characters) due to the stereotypes associated with the South of America (such as Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana). With this accent I felt more able to put effective emotion and detail into how I delivered my lines, it also helped a lot with physicality.
Research For Character And World Of The Play
I was tasked with researching pets and animals of the 1800s which in the end I found to be very useful towards how I portrayed the character of The Mastiff. I discovered that dogs were often not treated well (by today’s standards) and were often seen as a commodity or there to simply fill a role in the household. This meant that I was really able to tap into the introspective and lonely side of the Mastiff’s character while still keeping it genuine.
The Moors General Research:
https://show.leedsconservatoire.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/THE-MOORS-FACTS_260114_155838.pdf
Character Process and Animal Studies
I began my character process firstly by thinking about what the other characters in The Moors and my scenes thought of me, what my relationship is with them and how they might treat me as a result of this. I found this to be quite an informative and useful process as I was able to gauge how much emotion I was showing to certain characters, for example in scene 5 with The Mastiff and Huldey he is visibly much more pleased to see her than say any scenes earlier on with Agatha who he is afraid of.
I then attempted to put myself completely into my character’s shoes to best understand him, and tried to look at him not as a character being portrayed by me, but as a separate person completely. This helped me to understand his thought processes and come to the conclusion that the entire play even for him is cyclical, he repeats the same routine every single day, almost exactly the same events play out exactly the same way, however when he wakes up the next morning he has forgotten all about the previous day and the cycle starts once again.
The other Mastiffs and I went over some character questions and came to important conclusions on his character that really escalated our understanding of the character and certain traits that we could play, such as deciding that in dog years he Mastiff is around 40 years old, thus changing how we portrayed him as this completely shifted our centre of gravity, speed of movement, speed of thought and overall maturity; although being a dog this was not changed too much.
Working on animal studies and physicality with Eilon was a challenging but thoroughly rewarding process. It was very interesting seeing the transition from human to animal and vice versa, and the stages between both extremes. We developed the animal characteristics slowly until we got to the most extreme animalistic version of the character possible. We then created scenarios and improvised how The Mastiff would react thinking purely about instinct. We also thought about centre of gravity and how The Mastiff would hold himself, how he would walk and run which, being a large dog, ended up being completely the opposite of our original ideas of him as a dog. Laban was very useful in this process as The Mastiff’s centre of gravity was connected a lot to how he spoke and acted as a character. This is a process that I found very useful and I will remember it for the next project.
Lastly we dialled back the animal qualities and added in some of the more human traits to find the best balance between the two that we possibly could. It was very interesting and useful being able to work out how to transition from animal to human as this was necessary for my earlier scenes, and it was fascinating thinking about how certain limbs would transform and how I could transition smoothly through the scene and even halfway through certain lines, for example scene 6 with the Moorhen begins with The Mastiff down on all fours, but by the time it reaches the line “I could make you soup” he is as human as he’s going to get.
Director Notes
Many of the notes from Sean were to work on having the courage of my convictions with certain choices, keeping the stakes and the volume throughout the scene and not holding myself back at all. With the feedback that I received I felt as though I was in a much better place than last year to really go for it and make confident choices, but there was still space to push it even further which is something I would love to explore even more as I think it would really benefit me. There were also a few notes on muscularity of voice and volume with certain lines such as “I could set your leg at a better angle” and “I’ve never been this close to someone”.
As far as blocking for scenes, there was a good balance of us as actors being directed but also having lots of space to make suggestions and contribute valuable ideas. While this was intimidating at first, in the end it was extremely beneficial not only for the play as a whole and how certain scenes looked aesthetically, but also how the scenes were performed. Scene 6, for example, felt much more alive and flowed so much better after working for only about 10 minutes with Sean on the blocking and just throwing ideas at the wall, and I ended up being much happier and much more confident with a scene which I initially felt quite nervous about. This is something that I will take with me and consider for the next project or show as I think it will help me to really dive into the material fully and possibly earlier into the process than I was doing before. I also feel that I was much more able to hear notes and properly incorporate them into my performance which, of course, ended up making a huge difference, which I am very grateful for.
Overview
In the end I felt very comfortable to push myself and get things wrong in the environment that we created as an ensemble, not only in the room but also outside of it, which I am very grateful for as this is not always a guarantee in any rehearsal space. Similar to last year I wish we had had a little more time with the play to fully connect with the text, the characters and the story as a whole, that being said I think that the time dedicated to our separate rehearsal practices, specific scenes and in fact the full play was managed much better, and I felt much more confident when it came to the actual performance. Going into the next acting block and for third year shows, I would like to take not only the confidence in my own ability that I found, but also the ability to immerse myself fully in the role as soon as possible and to be able to get things wrong. I think I am in a much better place mentally than last year which hopefully has been reflected in my work, and I find myself excited to carry on working to the best of my ability and pushing myself, my process and my choices even further. The Moors gave me the space to play with different styles of acting which was very enlightening, and it’s definitely something that I would love to explore even further and discover new things as I go.
