Throughout this week we worked on transitions between the split roles and exploring how to signify the progression and aging of character's. I am slowly realising that the play is not as naturalistic as I originally though it to be. The acting is still naturalistic but it's structure and form steers away from naturalistic ideals and this is enhanced by the eerie themes of the play. The character transitions particularly for Cathy and Heathcliff are very important as they have the most drastic character changes. Cathy's mental state changes drastically when Lina and Chantel change and for Heathcliff the three different ones have a different expression of love for Cathy. The transitions easily distinguish this and can also act as vehicles for the changes the character is going through. We are also continuing to block through the play and exploring the text further, beyond the actions and objectives. My main problem at this point in rehearsal is not knowing my lines and my queues. I need to be sure in my lines so then the story-telling can be clear and coherent as I set the pace and tone of the scenes. To solve this I need to devote more time outside the rehearsal room to line-learning and studying the text further, the storyteller must know the story inside out. However, a positive from this detailed blocking is I am fully trying my accent and exploring the different vowel sounds of the Yorkshire accent. By practicing it almost every rehearsal, no matter how bad it may be, my mouth is adjusting to the way to moves when speaking in a broad Northern accent, so then tailoring it to a specific Yorkshire accent I will find it easier to access the detail in the accent. The accent is also helping me form character and finding Nelly's speech patterns and her pace, and another thing I am considering is how the text is written in 1800's English. A problem with this I am finding myself ad-lib the lines to modern day English and change the order of words slightly, which takes away from the character. To solve this I will slow my pace down when talking to make sure I utter each particular word, because the reshuffling of words can have a major impact on my character and how it intertwines with everyone else's speech.
Blocking through the play in detail has been challenging in terms of staying engaged on stage at all times. As the storyteller Nelly I need on stage at all times engaged with the story, handing props and managing what is happening on stage. So during rehearsal I have decided to stay on stage even in scenes when I do not have lines so I can get used to being on stage for long periods of time. But there is also so much more to be discovered as Nelly even when I have no lines. Us three Nelly's have a really interesting dynamic were we still interact and shadow each others movement, and this is what we discovered today. In Act 2 Scene 1 and 3 there were moments that we discovered where all the Nelly's move in sync to add cohesion among our characters and a reminder to the audience we are playing the same person. It also enhances the storytelling aspect and how we are all reliving, me in particular, this moment of our lives. Tash and I shadow Nelly L walking back in A2 S3 as it is a major turning point in Nelly and Heathcliff's relationship and this is further signified by all Nelly's moving in tandem showing the moments impact on us. Nelly is the heart and center of the story and we have discovered that she doesn't just talk to character's but she manipulates the story by taking form of different parts of the story. In this week we really have began exploring this much more and started exploring non-naturalistic elements of storytelling, by Nelly becoming some of the objects and furniture that are key in the story. We have done this earlier in the play, in A1 S9 when Lizzie and I become the cupboard that Nelly T puts the baby in. And in A2 S4 we began utilising the chairs and stacking them to form a door, that we then open and close. This really adds to storytelling element as the Nelly's are clearly leading the direction of the plot and character's and manipulating the world around them. However, a problem I am being faced with is remembering all the movement queues and particular moments that require particular props so to tackle this I have made detail notes in my script and when learning lines also mark through all the movement and prop movement in particular scenes.