A Little Box of Oblivion: Character, Context & Plot
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.
3. Facial expressions and voice: I wanted my character to come across as fatigued and almost distressed from the stupor of the conversations around me. My facial expressions throughout the scene were mostly that of apathy and disbelief, especially when particularly naive comments are made by Neuro or when overly expressive comments are made by Dick. This was particularly effective as it came out clearly in the video recording and added to the pauses and intensity of the speech. As for my voice, it was clear to listen to in the recording. I tried to used different volumes: quieter when muttering under my breath, but trying to enunciate distinctly so that the text could still be heard, and I would raise my voice during the end of my speech (“I agree with you!”). To prepare for the different levels of volume, I set up intensity ratings on the side of my script for each of my lines, 1 being the least and 10 being the most. However, more intensity doesn’t mean more volume, so I had to keep control of that during this scene as well.