Sessions 3 and 4 - Term 1 Week 7

Lesson 3

Presentations 

In this session, we did presentations on the historical context of the play for most of the lesson - see the 'Context of the play' page of this blog for notes. I found this mostly useful because the play is naturalistic and is based around the events of the real world. However, it was difficult to condense all the information into what was relevant to the play, as sometimes there was too much information that wouldn't help us. 

Timeline 

We then used the information we had gathered to put onto a timeline that was organised into two halves - one half for events that happen in the play, such as when characters are born or move to a different country and the other half for significant historical events, politics and art movements. I found this more helpful than the first task, just because it put into perspective the correlation between historical events and the characters' lives. 

Walking read-through

We also finished off the walking read-through of the play for parts 2 and 3. This went well and again it was good to see the play up on its feet. It gave us a solid base that we can build upon in future sessions.

Lesson 4

Today, having finished the walking read-through and rough block of the play last session, we did some work on the text. 

'Facts and Questions' - Katie Mitchell

We were set the rehearsal task of writing 'facts and questions' we had about every scene that we are in. I had never done this before, and was slightly confused about how this would help me understand the scene any better. At first, I found myself making the mistake of only posing questions that I already knew the answers to but shortly realised that this was not going to be helpful to me at all, so I began delving deeper into the scenes. I had to think both as an actor and as my character, because the play's structure is very disjointed. Once I began questioning the sequencing of the play and trying to piece together what may have happened directly before or after a scene I am in, the questions began to become much more interesting and helpful. 

Interestingly, I also found that writing down all that I knew about a scene was good for learning more about them. For every fact I wrote down I tried to think of a corresponding question, and this took the exercise on a different path to how I had been doing it before. For example, in the first scene I am in; Part 1 Scene 6, I wrote down the fact that 'Finley has been sleeping with the prostitute', but this then triggered the questions, 'why have the children seen Finley sleep with the prostitute?' and 'why has Finley been sleeping with a prostitute?' as well as questions about Finley and Margaret's relationship at this moment in time.

Overall, I found this exercise interesting and useful for really picking the text apart and helping me access some of the themes of the play that my character is involved in, but I think it will only be helpful if as a cast we all sit down and work out the answers to the questions. Otherwise, all the actors may have different ideas about the answers to them which could result in the world of the play not being completely solid.

'Head, heart, gut, groin'

Towards the end of the lesson we began to explore the 'head, heart, gut, groin' exercise.  We decided that people can be driven by these 4 main parts of their bodies. We were asked to come up with mainly verbs that were associated with each of the areas and how they may be reflected in character traits or qualities.

Below is my recording of the words that we came up with as an ensemble. It was an interesting exercise to be able to really unpick human nature and dissect the different ways that we approach situations, something that is very helpful for thinking about our characters' motives, desires and objectives.

After this lesson for each of my scenes as Sarah I decided to make a note of which body part she is driven by in my different scenes. My findings and justifications were:

Part 1 Scene 6 

GUT for the first half of the scene up until 'Let'slay the game Daddy played with the dark lady' as she is rooted and decisive about what she thinks, and will not enter into Albert's game about the baby under the table.

HEART up until the last part of the scene because she is swayed by Albert to play a game that she knows she shouldn't be playing and is rather innocent. She also has a guilty conscience and does the right thing by being honest and owning up to her mother about the game that her and Albert were playing.

Part 1 Scene 7

HEAD for the whole scene as she is opinionated, strong-willed shown by the stage directions saying she "comes back as strongly" to Albert's argument. She is also inquisitive when asking Albert what couture is to gain more knowledge for herself; both of which are traits we decided came under the 'head' section.

Part 2 Scene 1 

HEAD for the whole scene as Sarah is the only one out of the nuns who is rational and logical when the spider jumps off the blanket.

Part 2 Scene 2 

HEART for the whole scene. She is tactile and sensitive when speaking to Albert and is very sincere when realising that Margaret has left. However, as she comes in with an agenda it is arguable she is a mix of 'heart' and 'head'.

Part 2 Scene 3 

HEAD for the whole scene as she is intellectual and inquisitive both in the lesson part where Hope is teaching her and when the leopard gets into her room - she handles it very rationally. 

Part 2 Scene 5

GROIN for the whole scene because she is driven by one goal which is to have sex with Jack Holman. This scene is the first time the audience see Sarah showing any kind of sexual liberation, which develops more in Part 3 as she grows older and is a real turning point in Sarah's journey in the play. It is also a key moment because it is what leads up to the next generation of the Best family being created.