Characterization

Description

Last week I rehearsed scene 3, where I act as Deborah, after many weeks of not practising the scene. Also it was the first time with the shadow puppets where I got to work with Katty, doing a big queen with four arms.

Analysis:

Deborah in scene 3 wasn’t easy to perform this week. I already had a character before and I was used to do some specific movements, as well as the voice and the actual words I said. I was just used to it. It wasn’t easy to hear the director’s comments and try to learn the changes so fast after being so used to my character. I have to open my arms and move because the character looks very boring when it stays at the same position. Exploring how Deborah would move was difficult, as I never did this before for the character. When starting to reharse they told me not to move much because it would make Deborah lose class but now the director told me that it looked boring so it was difficult to think what movement I could do instead. I started exploring and then the director told me I should use a cat as a stimulus. For this I think I need to start watching videos of cats in order to associate the movements of the cat with the ones of my characters. Also I should remember the movements I explored in the physical workshops and use them too. Due to the changes in the script, i found it hard to remember the lines, so I will read the script several times. I think that if I already know the script I can focus more in my movements. Finally the voice; I finally found it. I now realize that changing your voice into the one of the character gives the character a mood and also a personality. It helps to build up the character, and not only for the audience to imagine how the character is but also for the actor.

The shadow puppets; the first day we worked in this I really didn’t feel well. All the bright lights flashing or shining in front me gave me migraine. I think this is one of the limitations a person in production has to go through. I can do Deborah's shadow without this problem as I’m not facing the lights, but I recognize that a task such as setting the lights goes beyond my limitations (Due to the migraine). These limitations can sometimes bring problems in production but I think it’s important to recognize them because then I can do something else in production where I can work better and things are done more effectively.

When I start doing the big Deborah it was difficult to decide what movements will be done but finally looking at our own shadow and exploring, we were able to choose the movements. The voice of this character was also important so both of us (katty and me) decided to speak at the same time in a same pitch and tone so it sounds powerful. I felt a lack of comprehension by one of the directors due to the lack of importance he gave to the movements and how he just told us the lines we needed to say. Then when we started to work with the other director I think things starting to go better. He looked at our movements and told us what was good and what we needed to improve. If I’m a director sometime in my life I should remind myself of this experience so I take into account not only the script, but the importance in the movements and also to listen to my actors.

Connections:

Exploring the voice and movements for Deborah reminded me to the characters in “Mas pequeños que el Guggenheim” I thought about the characterization; how the actors moved, how they change their voices. A good characterization makes a play entertaining. Also in this play there weren’t many pauses like in my scene and this makes it dynamic.

Reflection:

Now that I have reflected about exploring my character I started thinking... would it be more helpful to work my character from the outside to the inside, or from the inside to the outside? Grotowski or Stanislavski?