The Moors – Jen Silverman
Directed by: Sean Linnen
Initial Responses:
Casting:
Before casting, I read the play once without prior research, then again with some light research to open myself to an array of responses. This allowed me to engage equally with each character, and get a similar understanding to that of an audience.
As somebody with moderate knowledge of the Bronte sisters, Silverman’s parallels to their lives and books were strikingly obvious. Silverman’s part naturalistic / part abstract writing style cleverly ties dramatic exposition to the characters of Emilie and the Moor Hen, with the audience learning about the world of the Moors alongside them. Her use of stereotypes challenged preconceptions of people within the 1840s, but the family dynamic illustrated between the sisters is timeless. I found the journey of all 6 characters captivating, with each scene building to a significant event of infatuation or murder, with Agatha at the centre.
This project was cast the day before beginning rehearsals with no auditions, so I had limited time to prepare for my role. This made the start of my process challenging, as I felt an immediate pressure to prove myself.
I was both pleased and apprehensive to be cast as Agatha in scenes 7-8, as this comes at a pivotal point in her character arc, where she confesses both her feelings for Emilie and her grand plan for restoring her family. The challenge of balancing a romantic lead and villain was rewarding as there was so much I could play with, delving into narratives I am greatly interested in; but doing so in a Victorian setting was daunting because period pieces are out of my comfort zone. I feel secure in naturalistic modern work, so I knew that for the next three weeks I would have to trust my acting process to lean into the abstract.
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Understanding the text:
In week one, we did a lot of table work to dissect each scene. Despite often feeling monotonous, it helped me develop a greater understanding of the play and my character. I made sure to pay close attention to Agatha in scenes I was not cast in, to get a broad scope of her character arc in preparation for my work (see 1a).
Research:
As a class we discussed and divided apt areas of research culminating in a presentation at the end of week one (see 1b). In particular, this helped me grasp Victorian societal norms and gender roles in order to start creating the character of Agatha.
Alongside this, I delved further into LGBTQ+ rights in 1840s England and 2016 America, in relevance to the writer’s intention 1(Silverman, 2017). Here, I was able to separate attributes of Agatha that were a result of a liberal 2016 America, opposed to 1840s societal structures. Sean and I were then able to find a balance between the writer’s intentions of Agatha and the reality of a Victorian woman. From this, Agatha became more relatable to me.
Creating a mood board (see 1c) helped me with the androgyny of Agatha within a 19th Century culture. Although for the performance I wore a feminine costume, I researched the clothing of men and women. This helped me envisage Agatha’s fashion, with the effects both masculine and feminine clothing would have on her physicality and status.
1a
1b
1c
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Accent:
In rehearsals, Sean suggested a General-American accent for this play as it fitted with its abstract qualities. Whilst it was my strongest American accent, I struggled to find Agatha’s voice within this accent. With Jess, I explored using Laban and different resonators to make the accent feel less modern (see 2a). I chose to resonate most dialogue from my chest, with moments of head resonance in intimate moments to provide nuance. After finding confidence in this, I pushed myself to perfect a more authentic accent. I built on feedback to slow my speech, helping rhoticity feel natural. Using the accent in vocal warm ups really helped me merge vocal technique with the accent, leading to sustainable voice work through rehearsals.
2a
Character Process:
I began by scanning my scenes for words I was unsure of (see 3a), whilst noting what was said about my character (see 3b). This led to an investigation of my character’s Stanislavskian ‘Given Circumstances’ (see 3c) and character questions (3d). This helped me adopt Agatha’s world view, and make exciting but appropriate character choices. Sean really wanted scene 8 to explore Agatha’s sincerity, so understanding her psyche transformed her approach to Emilie and the moors.
I sketched the location of scenes 7 and 8 (see 3e) so I had a confident foundation of the world of the play. With both scenes taking place in different key locations, having a great attention to detail helped me bring ‘The Moors’ to life.
During week 2, my scene began to feel tedious – so I created an emotional journey chart (see 3f), aiding me by highlighting changes in tension. I coupled this with a constant update of Stanislavski’s objectives, and actions (see 3g) to keep tactics fresh.
Because I was the final Agatha, I struggled with jumping straight into scenes with such high stakes after sitting still for 45 minutes – so I created an ‘unbroken line of action’ (see 3h). Utilising this in the moments before performing aided a powerful entrance – bringing sustainable energy for both myself and the scenes.
I used my lived experience to make an ‘acting parallel’ (see 3i) in relation to Agatha’s villainous desire for control. Drawing parallels to a dramatised set of circumstances, helped me connect with Agatha and create a believability both in myself and to an audience.
3g
Reflection of Process:
Spending so much time watching other scenes developed my understanding of the role whilst ensuring some continuity of character. But the scenes where I portrayed Agatha were different in nature to earlier scenes, so I often doubted and held myself back by trying to keep too much connection to previous portrayals. It wasn’t until Sean pushed me to show the stakes of the scene that I realised that my portrayal of Agatha had to differ from previous takes, otherwise I wasn’t fulfilling the needs of the scene. From an early stage I was presenting my research in performance, so Sean and I worked hard on learning to trust that research will subconsciously show, if you focus on the conflict of the scene. I revised my objectives (see 3g) as an access point to this, constantly refining my version of Agatha. Since then the contributions I brought to the rehearsal room significantly improved.
PRACTICAL WORK
Inspiration:
I studied the presentation of men and women in adaptations of Little Women 2(Gerwig, 2019) and Jane Eyre 3(Fukunaga, 2017). I noted how Amy’s straight posture (see 4a) was a result of wearing a corset daily, but she always appeared comfortable and at ease. I was influenced by Rochester’s purposeful movements (see 4b), adding to his status, whilst his resting facial expressions were stern. I amalgamated these qualities, focusing on a delicate posture with strong, direct gestures to balance Agatha’s androgynous gender expression without relying on pre-described Victorian stereotypes.
4a
4b
Physical Work:
Each morning, I did a physical and vocal warm-up before rehearsals (see 4c), alongside full company warm-ups in week 3. I tailored my warm-up to what I was doing that day, ensuring that I was physically and mentally ready.
The journey to Agatha’s physicality began as research, described above, but I quickly found myself constrained by this. Sean used Uta Hagan’s 5 senses 4(Hagan, 2008) to move me towards exploring Agatha’s experience in relation to her emotional makeup rather than merely a physicality. We began with relationship to space: how the moors make her feel, what she can see, smell or hear. A breakthrough moment was discovering how she responds to these circumstances in the presence of Emilie, helping me to show a nuanced expression of love and weakness within a powerful female. Allowing Agatha to have the capacity for all emotions unlocked great range throughout the scene, pushing the stakes of her love for Emilie and desire for control to the point of audience discomfort.
I wanted scene 8 to showcase Agatha’s vulnerability, to then earn the juxtaposition of her hatred towards her incapacitated brother, revealed later in the scene. The laban efforts ‘wring’ and ‘dab’ alongside my objectives created a nervousness connotated with developing feelings for someone. This acted as a barrier to Agatha’s tactics: often not delivering lines as confidently as planned which created perfect internal conflict. This provided much needed variation through the first half of the scene, before switching to ‘slash’ to cement the height of her status over others. By not being afraid of stark contrast I was able to offer a complex and exciting depiction of Agatha.
Upon reflection, I felt that letting go of research whilst exploring a scene was utterly transformative to physicality and approach to acting techniques – something I will do in future projects.
4c
Intimacy:
I was apprehensive about not having an intimacy director as it is something I have not done in a project before, but I was quickly put at ease by our director creating a safe space for me and my scene partner to discuss our boundaries. I learnt that the moments directly before and after are equally as important as the kiss, with the counting of beats beginning as early as 5 lines prior. Sean suggested pacing of dialogue to move quickly so we were always one step ahead of the audience causing slight surprise. As we were two women in the 1800s, we wanted the length of the kiss to cover both an audience realisation and reaction, before lingering a moment to make Agatha’s swift exit very abrupt.
Unexpectedly, the challenges we faced were in the lead up to the kiss. The descriptive nature of the scene meant my partner and I struggled with breaking up a syncopated rhythm in line delivery. Introducing Patsy Rodenburg’s Circles of Attention (see 4d) really helped with this as it subtly changed the intention of each line, remaining in a sustainable, choreographed fashion.
I was proud of my scene partner and I for creating a professional environment. We completed daily check-ins, and had constant conversations surrounding wellness, creating placeholders should one of us not want to kiss ensuring there was no drop of energy in the scene.
4d
Director’s Notes:
Due to the shape of our performance space, a common note was volume and clarity. For the most part, this was improved by dedicating time within the group warm-up to articulation exercises and breath support for projection; but I particularly struggled with this note within intimacy. It initially felt strange to use equal projection during intimate moments, but it consequentially helped my scene partner and I with a sense of play in flirtation. The scene turned into a game, where we bounced off each other’s energy making every line more exciting than the last, creating spontaneity. A big note was remembering the stakes throughout each scene (see 4e). The play was constructed in an abstract, eventful manner – so pushing the stakes to anywhere other than their limit would result in the performance falling flat. Focusing on projection did help this, but I had a specific barrier towards movement in my scene which prohibited me from playing the stakes to their fullest. Because intimacy is highly choreographed, I felt lost in moments of stillness. It wasn’t until I found comfort in stillness, and real excitement in the dialogue that I stopped receiving the note of ‘stakes’, but instead was complimented on my word painting and world building.
4e
OVERVIEW
I am immensely proud of how much I achieved in three weeks of work, but more time spent on this process would have allowed me to reach a deeper understanding of Agatha’s motives. In the future, I want to separate my approach to research compared to scene work, to ensure they aid each other, not restrict. This project has enhanced my view of split casting, so in future I will use other interpretations to propel my own. Moving forward I want to remember that my character process is malleable and ever changing – it should fit the character and not the other way around.I had previously thought that actioning was entirely unhelpful, but it actually offered vast diversity in my scenes. Most importantly I have learned that I can offer bold and creative ideas, but to let them flow I need to remove internal restrictions and fears of getting things wrong.
I give thanks to everybody involved for allowing me to enjoy Agatha, exploring her complexities and capacity for great love and hatred.
- Jen Silverman interview The Moors – Search Videos (no date). https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=jen+silverman+interview+the+moors&mid=6C2BC78859CA1F11D2336C2BC78859CA1F11D233&FORM=VIRE.
↩︎ - Little Women (2019). Sony.
↩︎ - Jane Eyre (2011). Ruby Films.
↩︎ - Hagen, U. (2008) Respect for acting. John Wiley & Sons. ↩︎
Bibliography:
Silverman, J. (2017) The moors. Samuel French, Incorporated.
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Brontë, E. (2023) Wuthering heights: Large Print Edition. Mint Editions (Large Print Lib.
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Qi, L. (2021) ‘Women’s Voices in the Victorian Era – Feminist consciousness in the Bronte Sisters’ works,’ Journal of Contemporary Educational Research, 5(5), pp. 81–85. https://doi.org/10.26689/jcer.v5i5.2154.
Parker, C. (1995) Gender roles and sexuality in Victorian literature. https://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:443/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=006918137&sequence=000001&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.
Stanislavski, C. (2013) An actor prepares. A&C Black.
Alfreds, M. (2007) Different every night: Freeing the Actor. Nick Hern Books.
Mastering the Craft: Why Uta Hagen Technique is Essential for all Actors – Peter Rasmussen Blog (2024). https://blog.courses.peterrasmussen.com.au/2024/05/05/mastering-the-craft-why-uta-hagen-technique-is-essential-for-all-actors/.Laban
Movement Analysis: An Introduction for Actors (2022). Suzy Woltmann. https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/laban-movement-analysis-guide-50428/.
