- INITIAL THOUGHTS
The Rimers of Eldritch is a southern american play set in bible belt Missouri and written by Lanford Wilson. It was written and premiered in 1966 at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and later published in 1967. The play explores the slowly decaying town of Eldritch and its grief of losing its once thriving mining community. A fragility that is threatened by an ongoing murder trial.
My first read through of the play left me with a lot of confusion due to the non-linear narrative structure making it evident how closely I would need to follow these characters through the constant shifts of focus. What really interested me was the parallels Lanford had cast between ensemble members that have very different experiences of life. This sparked the start of my research of the play and its characters before rehearsals began.
2. RESEARCH . CREATING ELDRITCH
The first two weeks of rehearsal prioritised script work when the company was all together. This consisted of establishing the units of the play which created a clear outline of each big shift that creates the next scene, within these units we discussed the true, hard facts of the characters and their relationships with the town. This was really beneficial because it made sure everyone was confident about the narrative and it created a foundation to be built upon without concern in the upcoming calls. It was a slow but crucial part of the process with our director Jess that I will carry forward into my own process. To create the world of the play we drew a map of the town to establish a concrete sense of Eldritch. It helped to see the church as the focal point of the town, a place of worship and meeting place for the community but also an anchor for the buried secrets and discriminations of the town. Seeing the location of the character’s houses and their relation to each other and the different elements of the town further planted the roots of their daily lives.
Lanford Wilson wanted to provide a voice to the people of his childhood with the re-imagining of his community from 1950’s Ozark, Missouri in the fictional town of Eldritch. Wilson didn’t want the depictions of rural characters that he saw in film to be portrayed as hayseeds instead, intelligent and complicated human beings.
When studying the play I think we all got an overwhelming sense of the weight these people carry through their everyday lives, that their environment is this big weeping wound of the neglect this town has faced. An abandonment and loss of hope that’s permeable when you step into their world. This directed our research into the coal industries and how its decline in the 50s and 60s when transitioning from coal-fired steam locomotives to diesel-electric engines had a devastating impact on towns that were supported from the ground up on its success. Industries were moving forward but the people of Eldritch were choosing to stay in a place that was rotting, it became clearer why the pressures from the older generation were so persistent on Driver that continued onto Robert. A young man’s success as a race car driver was the closest they were to seeing the possibility of life outside their entrapment. Researching into the burdens of just the economy really helped shape the mindset and expectations these characters have of the world around them and their ways of coping and relating to one another.
3. CASTING
I was cast as Nelly Windrod, daughter of Mary Windrod. A 32 year old mill worker who has devoted her time to caring for her mother with dementia. Nelly comes across as quite a hard person who is driven by her work and keen to keep a respectable reputation within the town, despite the false tales her mother tells of her. It’s made clear from the start she is on trial for shooting and killing Skelly Manor, an act inherently violent and unforgiving yet is open back into the community with open arms. There’s a lot to get buried under when stepping into a character that is being twisted in so many directions so I wanted to begin defining the relationship between her and her mum Mary. I’ve never experienced the loss of a parent whilst they were still living or what it feels like to make the decision to take someone’s life, so my bridge into her world was establishing the condition of her relationship with her mum. Drilling through her intimidating exterior to find her inner child just wanting comfort and recognition from the only person that can no longer provide it. This gave more freedom to play with her moments of vulnerability and ruthlessness.
4. CHARACTER AND SCENE WORK
I was looking forward to seeing how my process worked on a new character with a new director for the first time. Understanding that not all of Jess’s way of working will align with my own, making it my responsibility to honour my process that still fits with the rehearsal room. Jess made it clear from the beginning that this play relies heavily on each of us passing the baton between one another to propel the scene forward and to keep the momentum. This not only translated in the play but as an ensemble, making sure each day we are coming to the space ready to work and offer what we can each day.
Creating Nelly’s world came from being as open minded as possible in my calls with Izzy, going into them with ideas but not concrete answers to prevent restricted interpretations. This allowed us to truly listen to each other and to not have any expectation of how the other would show up in the scene. I remember leaving those calls feeling so fulfilled with the direction we were taking our characters, being able to play with the push and pull of the two and who is holding the power or control in the scene. What me and Izzy really wanted to be clear on was the specificity of the flashbacks throughout the second act and making sure the stakes were rising for us as they were in the play. Their repetitiveness made it easy to slip into autopilot and perform it with the same intention each time. The speed of the scene also challenged me, it was a 10 second snapshot before the murder took place and I was struggling with feeling like I believed myself in those moments. What helped was using Stanislavski’s tactics and raising the stakes, heightening Nelly’s concern for her mother internally whilst appeasing and soothing Mary’s cries externally. Expanding on Nelly’s world Jess ran a ‘church meeting’ which helped to understand Nelly’s role within the town. It was a long form improv where each person came to church as their character, how do they walk in? Where do they sit? Do they know the words to the hymns? Do they sing at all? Do they believe in God? Is this a social event for them? This established Nelly’s solidarity and how her only reason for coming is because Mary likes the experience of church.
Laban was really helpful for me in transforming into Nelly. A big part of my process is working physically and how finding the physicality of a character and what they choose to express helps ground me in a scene. Working with Aaliyah helped establish the different efforts I wanted to experiment with, we landed on her being an external press and internal wring, being quite a hypervigilant character. This was helpful to name because it gave me more clarity on how to play her exhaustion and frustration, it wasn’t just directed to her mother but internalised for herself with a longing for what could have been for her future.
Over the five weeks, I really enjoyed playing a character that challenged my process in being able to portray someone that has such a different lived experience and finding my anchors for it to speak truthfully.
5. FEEDBACK
A big moment for my character Nelly is the killing of Skelly Manor. This scene was a lot of trial and error because I wasn’t physically holding a gun and acting out shooting him; it was a stylised version. The choreography was workshopped with Oryna and Jess to make sure it had an impact with it being an anticipated moment of the play, we wanted to make sure it didn’t feel clunky. It began with me and Ruben taking a breath together to symbolise the impact of the bullet which developed into my steps towards him being the bullets. I struggled at first with feeling confident in the movement, not because I couldn’t physically do it but because I didn’t feel properly in it, I didn’t believe it myself. What helped was going over what it means to own a gun and not hesitating to shoot someone, being able to aim and shoot in the dark. This reinforced a confidence by having a clear and unmoveable objective that I could properly commit to the action and emotion of the scene.
6. BREAKTHROUGH MOMENTS AND CHALLENGES
A big realisation that happened coming to the end of these five weeks was how important it is to take care of myself physically. During the two runs in one day on the Friday before the performance I had lost my voice from being run down, it really put into perspective how important it is to fuel and sustain what is essentially my instrument. This made me reevaluate what it means to take care of myself, properly stepping out of the role when rehearsals finish to detox from the heavy material and taking time with soothing and restoring my voice. Taking responsibility in making sure I’m at my best to be able to carry my weight in the ensemble.
During Unit 45 ‘how’s your mother’, myself, Sacha and Mae really wanted to build the tension between the characters. Initially, we struggled to progress the scene from what seemed like a low-stakes morning conversation but Jess suggested playing with the proxemics, particularly space between all three of us. Sacha and Mae crossing and circling around me changed the atmosphere to an interrogation. This helped to add an internal conflict within my character in wanting to present as a strong and trusted carer for her mother whilst also wanting to show vulnerability and be offered comfort. This change in blocking and being more playful with reaching its final result acted as a reminder to not overlook how a simple shift in proxemics and being aware of the space you are in can push a scene further.
7. REFLECTION
Overall, I am really happy with how the projects went. Going into it I didn’t know what to expect with working with an external director and being in a professional rehearsal room for that amount of time. It gave me the chance to explore how my process works with new material and alongside a director that has their process for the room. The focus and dedication from everyone in the ensemble was really fulfilling, knowing we had all worked so hard to bring this play to life. It also inspired me into wanting to create my own work, not having to make a perfect end product but just to gain experience in experimenting with different media and expression through acting. I’m really looking forward to applying what I’ve learnt into more practice in the future.
