6 character 1: beginning the work

Today marked the beginning of our Common Ground rehearsals for Six Characters in Search for an Author. We opened with the reveal of our adaptation of the text, we would set it in January 1960's London, specifically around 1964-6. This entails warm period clothing, a sense of RP and Working Class voices, suggestions of sexual tension and activity, and a formal air around everything. With the time period out of the way it was time to begin the work. 

We started with a warm up and went into our first character development exercise. We were tasked with playing out a single action before we got on with the day of reckoning, as it were. The day that the characters enter the theatre in the west end to tell their story. The action I chose was the Father putting on his trench coat in his bedroom/study and proceeding to smoke a cigarette to calm his nerves. I felt that this was appropriate for Father, as I sensed an anxiety and an anticipation in him and he needed to calm himself to be able to negotiate and interact with the Directors well, whilst hiding his true intentions. I also knew that smoking was a common outlet, during that time, and he would've given himself a cigarette out of habit. The exercise following was again, a character development exercise. This time we were tasked with choosing a defining moment in your characters life. I decided to choose the moment, or moments when I sent first my Son, the the Mother away from my house. I feel that it was after I had sent the Mother away that I felt the emptiness truly envelope me. I saw myself walking back into my home and realising I was well and truly alone for the first time. I sat in my armchair and felt the emptiness consume me. This exercise was very useful to me as it gave me an insight into Father's darker emotions, especially as he admits that he used to hide them in front of others. I really felt the remorse creeping in, as well as, the self doubt in himself.

After this exercise there was a short break before our next exercise, which was a whole cast improvisation. The premise of the impro was that everyone was going to the pub at the end of the day; for the cast and crew of "Rules of the Game" it was to relax after a day of rehearsal. For the characters; the Son worked at the bar, the Stepdaughter had brought the Mother to relax from her work with Madame Pace, and for the Father, it was one of his particular haunts, a place he would go to escape the loneliness he felt all around him. As the inprovisation went on, I felt the lack of connection between the Mother and Father, yet I could tell that perhaps there may have been a good deal of emotion between them before he had her sent away. The Son wanted nothing to do with the Father, whilst the Stepdaughter simply wanted to mess with the Father and the Son. The impro came to a head when a drink Father was asked to leave by the Son. A fight ensued between them and it was at this point where I really felt the Fathers raw emotions come out. His disappointment in himself and his son for turning out like he did, his anger at the Mother for not understanding him, his attraction and disgust towards the Stepdaughter. 

After this inprovisation, the director felt that it was necessary for the Fathers to  build on their character development. To do this we improvised several key moments in the Fathers life, that although aren't seen in the play, are referenced throughout it. We started with the Father meeting the Mother for the first time. It was set up as a date at the Mothers home. I played Father and Elizabeth played the Mother. I found this impro useful too as I could really feel the tension and awkwardness between them. I feel that there may have been an attraction there but there was a noticeable difference in the way they communicated and handled each other's company. The formal atmosphere, I feel, also made it easier for me to identify with the 1940's setting. The second impro that we did as a pair was a few years on after we had been married and our Son had been born. I was coming home from work to find toys scattered around the living room, causing me to initiate an argument with the Mother about sending our Son away to bording school. The tension and differing outlooks were very clear in this impro and I feel that this is the moment when we see for the first time a crack in the outwardly perfect relationship.

The final impro that I was a part of was a joint impro with Danny and Eleanor and Lil. In this impro we explored the moment when the Father first went to watch the young Stepdaughter coming out of school. The awkwardness yet the intrigue  of seeing her grow up and develop as a part of this family that he had created was an interesting paradox. It almost felt wrong to follow her, yet my interest in her family overcame me.