Character, Context & Plot

I am playing Cool in the play, who is parked on a park bench, reading a newspaper. Talking about this in class, we mentioned some aspects on Cool’s life, such as how Cool might’ve had a day off, and is an intense businesswoman in the workplace. She is perhaps in her late 20s - early 30s, and has been married for about 2 years. Her husband wants to start a family but she doesn’t have the time for one. The park is her escape from the office and she just wants to read her newspaper. She lives perhaps a sizeable city, not small like a village but big enough to have high rises and office buildings. She is quite objective, and is sarcastic to comments she finds ridiculous.

I wanted my character to come across as quite level-headed, as out of all the characters (apart from Woman) Cool is the only one who does not come to conclusions on the contacts of the box. In order to achieve this, I (tried to) keep as calm and as collected as I possibly could, while delivering my snarky and sarcastic comments. I then slowly increased the intensity, building up until my last long speech. Even through out the speech, it was (to be) said in a more disappointed tone as opposed to a fully blown anger. The only time I am supposed to get fully angry are around the lines “I agree with you, there is something evil in that box!”. To do this, I would raise my voice, and I literally take out my pent up fatigue from the ridicule of the other characters by grabbing the box, smashing it on the ground and shaking furiously in mid-air.

I showed my character through the following ways:

1. Movement: While on the bench, Cool should be in a restful position, perhaps with crossed legs and an arm resting on the bench’s back. I did this to show how Cool is having a day off the office, therefore, she doesn’t need to sit or even act in a business-like way. During the speech, I went back and forth to the other actors while delivering my lines, so that they had something to react to individually, as opposed to them standing there for a while without much to do. Before the speech, I kept my sudden movements mostly to a minimal, apart from the “water rats” segment. I really exaggerated this to show Cool’s sarcasm in this part of the play. However, after re-watching the recording this proved to be a bit too much of an exaggeration and really cut down my chances of being in a higher band. (This will be a target for me to improve)

2. Gestures: The gestures I made were mostly from exasperation; when Dick and Neuro talk about the possibility of a bomb, I knock my head all the way back and “oy” in exasperation. For the “water rats” section, my big gestures were to accentuate the mocking I was giving towards the other actors on their foolishness. Again, this was too effective and ended up not benefitting me. For my speech, I tried to get on many different levels, ex. going low when talking to Doom about the young boy, keeping close to the floor when talking about the chewing gum, etc. I also crossed my arms and put my hands on my hips, and this worked because it showed the impatience and skepticism from the comments being made.