The Rimers Of Eldritch – Lanford Wilson [Felicity Gurr 24102591]
by
Felicity Gurr 24102591
First Response
The Rimers of Eldritch is a play set in a small town community in Missouri in the mid-1960s and written by Lanford Wilson.
I needed to read the play twice independently before I really understood what was going on. I found the number of characters and their overlapping relationships very complex. As well as this, the play’s non-linear structure means the audience are drip fed scenes from different points along the story’s timeline: meaning they need to piece the plot together themselves.
Making a list of characters and their relationships helped me to map out the town’s community and get an understanding of my casting options. Then, I highlighted each word or phrase in the script that I was drawn to (see figure A) : this answered some questions and brought others to light which I could study more closely later on.
I then felt able to pick out obvious themes and record my initial thoughts on the play. (See figure B)
Figure A
Figure B
This work felt very instinctive for me. I am very glad that I let myself first explore the text purely for my own enjoyment without over-intellectualising it. As actors, I think it can be easy to muffle our immediate emotional responses to a piece and rush to unpick the finer details. I noted key themes of prejudice, community and the failures of the legal system, which could reflect the current state of affairs in the USA.
Audition and Casting
I saw this audition as an opportunity to practice for the industry and to explore a character aligned with my casting type: Eva. I feel that I have a much younger look to some other actors of my age group (shorter stature, petite frame, higher vocal register etc) and so I wanted to lean into this for the first time and read for a more youthful role.
I imagined the height at which my eyeline would meet Robert’s and how this could show Eva’s vulnerability and low status. In the audition, I requested for the reader to stand to read Robert’s line so that I could play off of the difference in our heights. I feel very proud of how I went about this audition and pleased to have received the role that I went for. This positive experience gave me confidence that mine and the director’s vision for the piece were aligned from the offset.
The ‘Pact Girls:
The week before the project, I spoke to two friends in my class, Izzy and Verity who I know are hardworking and enthusiastic. I’d had a sudden burst of inspiration and felt that through this project, we could push each other to new heights in our training. Together we developed a plan (See figure C) to hold each other accountable in our work both inside and outside the rehearsal room and to offer kind, thoughtful feedback on our work.
Figure C
Figure D
As it worked out, the three of us each got the roles that we wanted most: Eva, Mary and Cora!
Every Saturday we worked independently: researching, studying our characters and unpicking the play; then on Sunday evenings we would call to discuss our thoughts and findings. (Figure D shows my weekly timetable).
In one particular call, they encouraged me to ‘go bigger’ and ‘be a bit feral’ in the section where Eva raves about autumn. I then tried to really see the images that Eva is referencing, rather than simply speaking louder and trying to appear excited. In this process I have found that I can sometimes give too much weight to one moment or line and in trying to play a particular emotion or level of energy, I lose the detail and intention in the work. I want to stay conscious of this and allow myself to play whatever feels truthful in the moment. The manic joy in this line was finally affecting me and in the final performance, I even got a laugh from the audience!
Independent and Character Work
In my preparation, I put a lot of time into considering Uta Hagen’s nine questions which are based on Stanislavski’s system to embody a character. With each scene I answered the questions in character and in as much detail as possible (figures E and F)
In the past, I have struggled to put my answers to these questions into practice; this time, I found that I could access them in rehearsals and even in the final performance to inform my choices and bring clarity to a scene. I could also get a feel for how Eva’s internal ‘voice’ may sound and her attitudes towards others in the community.
My answer to the question “what is my obstacle?’ was “I am too small”, referencing Eva’s physical size, her age, but also her lack of worldly experience. She has never left the state, experienced true friendship and is of course limited in her self-expression by the oppressive values of this christian, conservative Missouri town. Her given circumstances bring a notable vulnerability to her character that I hoped to showcase. I explored other traits in her character as part of a homework set by Jess (figure G).
Figure G
The topic of 1960s small-town Missouri is a niche one and so I needed to research this in depth and get a sense of the culture we’d be recreating as an ensemble. I presented a powerpoint of my research in a weekly check-in with Izzy and Verity.
I found that Rock and Roll wasn’t yet widely accepted by the more conservative of the time. I searched for what could be ‘Eva’s favourite song’ and chose ‘Love Me’ by Elvis Presley. The sentiments of the song felt close to how I imagined Eva’s internal dialogue and so listening to it helped me to get into character. I would dance along as the character: finding her physicality – upright, expressive and bright – and apply the laban efforts of ‘dab’ and ‘press’ which I felt best matched her energy state.
Costume also helped me to get into character and find different gestures: swaying sllightly to move my dress around, adjusting the buttons of my cardigan when Eva goes to see Robert and bringing the weight of my boots into her walk.
To put my costume together, I created a pinterest board of options:
On account of the time jumps, it’s only revealed near the end that the character ‘Robert Conklin’ is guilty of a crime that before this, is thought to have been committed by the old man, ‘Skelly’. I was fascinated by this slow unfolding of the plot as it’s unlike any play I have seen before. At the same time, I felt apprehensive that we’d need to spend a lot of time and energy developing our understanding to where the audience could follow what was happening.
The three weeks of theory work would be crucial and so, I embraced something that in the past, I have found to be quite tedious and less useful than practical exploration.
Led by Jess, we split the script up into units (See figure H), giving each unit a number, title and deciding whether it occurred before, during, or after the murder of Skelly. Finally, we had reached a group understanding of how the plot would flow chronologically.
Figure H
I really liked the way we dug into each scene together, whether we featured in them or not. From this, we could pass the baton from one scene to the next, keeping the momentum flowing through the piece and bringing our focus to the ensemble.
In a group research session, we created a map of how we saw Eldritch town based on the play text. In my research into Lanford Wilson, I watched an interview where he was asked about how important location is in setting the foundation of his plays.
He answered with this:
“I can’t really get it until I know where I am and what’s outside those walls and where the highways lead to.”
In class I highlighted how each character would have a different relationship with the world outside of Eldritch. I saw Eva as a character who dreams of a different kind of life but doesn’t have enough knowledge or means to actively seek it. I brought this idea into Eva’s internal dialogue during scenes and in diary entries I would write in character (See figure I).
Figure I
In a rehearsal I had with Bea, who played my mother Evelyn, we worked with Jess to strengthen our chemistry. It surprised me that through refining the blocking, we had unlocked lots of new ways to play the scene. An added choice was a hug initiated by Evelyn – we played it that when she notices that one of Eva’s shirt buttons is undone, she pushes her away again. We both felt more sure of the relationship after this call and enjoyed the more personal attention from Jess.
Feedback
Some of my feedback from Jess (Figure J) was to tweak my intentions on particular lines to bring a new angle to Eva’s relationships. On the line “What do you mean he’s alright?”, Eva questions Skelly’s judgement of her friend Robert. Here, I had been playing the line with an honest curiosity whereas Jess redirected me to play that Eva is offended by Skelly’s comment as she sees Robert as a lot more than just ‘alright’. I found detailed redirections like these to be very fun to play as I could find more depth to lines that I may’ve gotten into a rhythm with. I felt that with this line in particular I could find the comedic side to Eva’s desperate and unrequited love for Robert.
Figure J
I made a conscious effort to continue my work on character development up to the very last moment. I didn’t want to land on a “finished” version as I knew this would eventually become stale and lack truth. I listened intensely to my scene partners, searching for their intentions and allowing myself to be affected. This meant I got something new from each run.
In one of the final run-throughs, I recalled Mike Alfred’s ‘Points of Concentration’ exercise which I read about in his book ‘Different Every Night’. I decided to bring my focus to imagining the surroundings that Eva sees: the trees, the edges of the horizon, the “rime” glimmering on the rooftops. I even tried to use the feeling of the cold air around her to support my breathwork and intone my vowels. Jess picked up on this huge shift in the scene with Robert and asked that I keep it in the final piece. I hope to take the points of concentration exercise into future projects.
Overall Learning Experience
One of my main goals for this project was to be an easy person to work with. To me this means doing work behind the scenes, arriving early, problem solving and being open and enthusiastic when recieving redirection.
During our first performance of the hymn, we struggled to find the starting notes of our harmony. I realised that we hadn’t rehearsed how to find the notes after listening to the songs played in the pre-show. After the performance I showed Jess the notes to play on the piano to bring the audiences focus into the show but crucially to set us all in the correct key. Jess liked the idea and the song sounded much better in the second performance.
In a one to one with Jess, she told me that she was extremely pleased with my engagement and that she would love to work with me again. I was very happy to recieve this feedback and glad that I had met the goal I set myself.
Areas that still need development are my vocal and physical warmups. The effectiveness of my warmup varied from day to day as I tried to figure out what worked best. I would like to equip myself with a tried and tested set of exercises to set me up for a rehearsal. Additionally, I’d like to stretch my casting and go for a more transformational role next time.
In projects that follow, I will be much more confident in my methods of approaching research, text and character. Through seeing Jess work and unpicking her many visions for the play, I grew to understand on a deeper level the part I have to play in making a production run smoothly and even developed an interest in directing myself.
