Murder Mystery project!! 

Character: Harriet the Hare 

Character status: Use to be high class, lost fortune due to paying RC to stop being blackmailed, does not get along with the General (Lion), long-term family feud. Known as the drunk by the other characters.  

My character process proceeded with research, as well as a hot seating experiment. In my opinion, the hot seating was difficult, at this point I didn't know much about my character so being put on the spot and asked questions I didn't know the answers to I struggled to commit to the challenge. I think that we did the hot seating experiment too soon to when we got our characters.  Over weeks of rehearsal, I started to get the feel of my character, and with started to use props such as bottles to give the illusion of playing a drunk character.  Below are some photos from our rehearsal, specifically when I was doing my introduction, the directors added to the script that in my introduction I burped after I said my line "We can't let that ruin the celebration". The idea added comedy and the audience loved it. I had a little trick up my sleeve for the preparation for burping, on the set we had glass bottles that were all filled with water, and we were using plastic champagne cups to drink out of but I found that in order to get the best burp I could get out the water wasn't working so for performance night I used an energy drink during the first scene where my introduction was and then after I then filled my cup with water, I was really happy with how it turned out and it got a few laughs from the audience so mission successful. Another thing that was added, like burping, was a hiccup but that was easier to execute without needing a drink to do it, it was also a cue for the tech people so I made sure I didn't forget it. 

My favourite part of the performance was when I had to spit water on Sam's character, the detective after he said his line "Red Cloak was poisoned" We had talked about doing it in the early performance stage but I didn't see it coming to life as much as it did in the final result. I found it hard not to laugh or smile at how much the audience loved it and I could hear my mum's laugh echo from all over the theatre. 

An idea was mentioned by Kian 'The Weasal' that my character 'The Hare' be a second murder victim because it will make the show that much more interesting and give the audience more ideas for who to blame the murder on. The Hare and The Lion have a long feud between their families so when my character died it would give the audience the thought that it could have been the Lion as the murderer. It was a long process to figure out how my character would die and then to put it in the script and then put it in a scene. The overall process was very fun, my character ended up getting shot up in the lighting box, and the audience only saw me and a hand holding the gun so they wouldn't know who the killer was and it kept the mystery alive. 

👈🏼 During the rehearsals for this performance, I had been helping out with makeup. I helped out Emily with makeup by doing the foundation base and powder on the guys and some of the girls and then Emily did eyeshadow, blush and lipstick. On the day of the show, I did my makeup so that I could help out doing the other cast's makeup and still give us enough time to relax before going on stage.