During the first week of the project, we divided a variety of topics to research and then discussed what we found at the end of the week (See 1b). Working with others in this way meant that I learnt about topics I wouldn’t have considered looking into if researching on my own – for example, how people consumed pop culture at the time or the role of pets in Victorian households. This gave me a thorough understanding of the context of the play which formed a strong basis for me to start my world building and character process. I made sure to research subjects specific to my character on top of this, including Typhus and the role of Victorian Maids (See 1c). I often portrayed Marjory as weary as maids usually worked long hours daily (5am – midnight) in addition to having fatigue and muscle pain from Typhus.

1b

1c

We began our process by uniting the script. We created our units based on moments of change that impacted all the characters on stage. Uniting in this way meant we could intricately discuss what affected our characters and how they were affected. This laid the groundwork for us to start exploring our characters in more depth and direct our research to answer the questions that emerged during uniting – my biggest one being ‘How are Marjory and Mallory connected’? Uniting was also a useful tool later in the rehearsal process to help signpost where we were in the narrative of the play.

I drew upon Stanislavski techniques to understand my character’s journey through the play (See 2a). I used Stanislavski’s ‘Unbroken Line of Action’ to understand Marjory’s thoughts and behaviour, including what she did between scenes and thus how she felt coming into each scene. I extended my work on the Unbroken Line of Action by making a timeline of Marjory’s life to explore where she had come from and how she’d arrived at the point where we meet her in the play. I used ‘Given Circumstances’ provided by the play as well as choices I’d made about her life to create the timeline. This helped me to decide on my objectives for each scene. I created an objective for every unit where Marjory was on stage and a super objective which gave Marjory her overarching drive and motivation. The objectives for each unit helped me to pinpoint what Marjory was aiming to achieve.

Internal Monologue / Laban

Marjory spent a lot of time on stage but not speaking. This is something that I’ve always found challenging, finding it difficult to know what to do to keep my character present and engaged. I found creating an internal monologue for each scene helpful. I selected a few phrases – ones that stood out to me whilst we were rehearsing the scenes – that evoked an instinctual reaction in me. Thinking of these phrases whilst in the scene helped me to listen and respond authentically to the events on stage by feeling more connected to Marjory’s emotions.

Additionally, I found Laban to be a very useful tool to create depth, particularly to differentiate the two sides of her character. I chose a Laban effort for Marjory and Mallory – Marjory being Punch and Mallory being Flick. Whichever character I was portraying at the time would be the external effort and the other the internal effort. The constant conflict between the two efforts amplified the unsettled nature of the character. I also used Laban to connect to my character’s feelings, making it easier to mimic emotions. For example, during the song in Scene 4, I used Press to help evoke the sadness that Marjory felt whilst reflecting on her childhood (See 2b).

Marjory / Mallory

The dual characterisation of Marjory and Mallory was initially a confusing one. There didn’t appear to be a reason behind which of Marjory or Mallory were on stage and often the character would change within scenes without being prompted. I had many questions about the character, including why Marjory was portrayed as two people. My interpretation was that Mallory was her sister who died after falling pregnant by Branwell.  Marjory adopted Mallory’s personality as a defence mechanism, often deploying this to avoid talking about Branwell. To delve into this idea further, I completed the same character questions for Marjory and Mallory to establish two distinct characters that I could embody in my performance (See 2c and 2d). I found using character questions created a holistic idea of Marjory’s character, making memories of her past that I could draw on to connect to my character.

There was a lot of scepticism in the group as to whether Marjory was pregnant and had Typhus. The timings when she mentioned these often seemed too convenient. After discussing with Sean we decided to lean into this, often drawing on them as a tactic to get attention or to get out of doing things. For example, in Scene 1 and Scene 4 Marjory coughs as she leaves the stage. I tried to create a performative cough that aimed to get the attention of Emilie, almost demanding she followed without being able to say it outright. I found this added to Marjory’s distasteful and resentful nature, fighting for status in the power dynamic.

Director’s Feedback

In this project we worked with external director Sean Linnen. Sean’s fluid and unstructured process was new to me and took some time to adjust to. However, I learnt to use my time in the rehearsal room productively to work on my character and gained a holistic understanding of the narrative journey from observing other’s rehearsals.

We had a detailed run through of my scenes three times with Sean, and I wrote down all the notes he gave me (See 3a). This meant I could then reflect and review them before our next run of the scene, improving my performance and unlocking new discoveries for my character. My biggest note throughout the process was about energy. I was often told that I didn’t come into the scene with enough energy or attack. This was challenging to understand and therefore difficult to improve upon – particularly since my character was meant to be cold and indifferent. Despite seeking clarity and observing other’s performances, I found it difficult to unlock the same ‘attack’ in myself. It wasn’t until the third week of rehearsals where I discovered a balance between being bold and engaged whilst also maintaining a feeling of resentment in Marjory. When I made choices with more conviction they landed better, evoking a response from my scene partners and the audience. This led to us instilling a more comedic side to Marjory and coming up with ideas such as when she appears from behind piano with a half-eaten croissant in Scene 4. This helped me to enter scenes with more energy and enabled Marjory to become a character with greater dynamic range.

3a

Reflection of Process

I made sure to reflect on each stage of the process (See 4a). This helped me to remember what we had done, assess what my next steps should be and consider how I was feeling about my work. I was able to come to my own conclusions and find my own interpretation of Marjory that wasn’t entirely tailored to the feedback I was getting from others. Overall, my reflections kept me grounded and focused in my acting process, giving me a place to observe my development and keep track of my goals.

4a