Week one & two

The first week really helped me to get into the character as Martha, through improvisation games, where I could experiment with different voices and physicality. The scenario's that I was given, really helped to me to understand how Martha's past might have played out.

I felt uncomfortable doing the eye contact work, because I personally cannot remain eye contact with someone throughout a whole conversation without feeling out of my comfort zone but I tried and sometimes I did good but I did find that quite hard.

I'm glad that I'm playing opposite Andy though because I feel we have a natural chemistry which helps when it comes to making the relationship look as natural as possible. I feel comfortable with him and can have a laugh which is great, but what i felt was the biggest help of all was really getting to know Andy as a person so that I could feel much closer to him and that happened when we had a heart-to-heart talk about ourselves.

I feel these exercises have really helped to build our relationship between Martha and George and it it is really starting to show which is always a good thing.

I am nervous about my accent at the moment because I struggle with them as it is but I am giving it my best shot, so far I need to concentrate on making myself sound older, by deepening my voice which I am working on and have an American twang. I have noticed that when i get excited or angry I go high pitch which is something I really need to look at.

Week two

This week we started basic blocking. yes! I now feel as though my character is coming to life, as the ingredients to Martha are being added one at a time, until I have her full character within my grasp. I want to look into my physicality but i feel the only way which will help is if I saw myself. Hayley recorded one of our rehearsals so this is now possible.

My accent is coming along ok, I still need to work on it but it is much better than what it used to be; I don't sound as young. Martha is a challenging role to play and requires a lot of work because she's all of the place. The range of dynamics within her emotions are tough. They need to be snappy and clear which is something I am now getting into and playing around with. I can go much further with her emotions, making them much bigger especially with her anger which I find the most difficult. I think my diction needs a little work to but my projection is great....i suppose I have no choice with that one seeing as Martha IS a drunk and loud woman! the only parts I do need to remember to project on but still keep the emotion is when i'm being flirty or childish because that is when my voice drops and it wouldn't be heard in the theatre if i did it at that level. Note taken.

Off scripts now too which is fantastic because we can really concentrate on small details and become our characters. I love the feedback I get at the end of each run through because I can then see what I need to change/improve, could play around with etc.

I watched Little Voice as a recommendation from Abbie for my character. The mum in that is hilarious and I can really see parts of Martha in her, the only thing is she is British so it doesn't help with the voice. I am watching clips of 'who's afraid of virginia woolf' on youtube to help me with certain words and stuff.

I think it is really coming together now and I am excited to perform. Costumes are nearly sorted too, jusy props to sort now. We have been using chairs and occasionally a sofa, when we can find one. The music department was nice enough to let us borrow theirs at one point. I have thoroughly enjoyed the rehearsal process so far and the pace of it has been fantastic, as I have not got bored of it because we haven't over-run things to the point where we are just going over and over it. I have a good group!