My character Holly was one for the 12 in the play '13' by Mike Bartlett. Holly doesn't get on with her mum or dad "my dad's a shit and my mum gets anxious, about things?" but get's on with gran really well because her gran giver her money "Thirty?". She goes to University and doesn't have any friends or money "I'm not liking University because I don't have any money or ... well friends." which is why she sleeps with Mark because he pays her for it "You mind fifties?". Holly has a very troubling life because she isn't sure what she wants to do in life but when she hear's John speak in the play she decided to make a website for him and video him so everyone can see his speeches online "I'll film it tomorrow, put it online,".These speeches start to help Holly because she finally confronts Mark about what they do and tells him she wants to stop even though she is scared of him "What we do. I don't like it".
I think that Holly and Mark maybe met through her gran Edith because Mark is her lawyer and goes round her house to speak to her and Holly goes round there too so that's how I think they met. After that I reckon her gran might have tried to set them up because in the play she says to Mark "My granddaughter Holly, she's your age." Then they might have seen each other out clubbing because Holly likes going out and after the clubbing scene at the end of act 1, Holly is round Mark's in a dressing gown in act 2 scene four. The reason I think Holly and Mark started this was because she needed the money and she thought it was alright because she wasn't doing anything else and she was unsure. After act 2 scene 4 though we see a change in Holly feeling towards sleeping with Mark and that is that she wants to stop. Her objective throughout the play from there is to stop but her obstacle is Mark because he doesn't want to, he's be come attached to her and started to see her as his girlfriend "It's fine. Like having a girlfriend." I think that John's speech's help her to see that she is more then just someone who sleeps around for money and that she can actually make something of herself. Which helps her to stand up to Mark when he see's her and to tell him that she doesn't like it "What we do. I don't like it".
The first speech Holly hear's John say is in act 2 scene 6 when he speak about his thought on a battery hen. After talking about this battery hen he starts talking about us, how we think we'll work everything out and God and how we can't know what was before the universe. In my opinion this speech helps Holly see that there is more to her life then just sleeping with Mark, she just has to go out looking for it. This is also the scene where she first talks to John and decided to start filming his speeches "I'll film it tomorrow, put it online" and also figures out what to call the video "John in the park. That's what I'll call it." I feel as if this scene is what helps Holly make a start on something new and finally change her life around because this is where she stop going round Mark's to sleep with him. Her objective is to finally make something of her self and show off what she can do and actually help people but Mark still won't leave her alone "You haven't answered my calls. You're here every day. I see you on my lunch-break. Going round with your clipboard." But by the end of the play she doesn't sleep around with Mark anymore. John helped Holly a lot because he say her as someone who was desperate and lost in finding her passion.
When I was experimenting with my vocal, physical and emotional side for Holly it was a bit hard because I had to take her away from my self and I tried quite a few things before I knew I had brought Holly out. I found vocal quite hard because she would speak in different tones depending on the character she is speaking to. Firstly I didn't really bring her attitude out, I wasn't taking her away from me but then I began thinking on it. I thought that she would speak about her family and problems in a harsh tone because she hates her family and is annoyed that she has a "Shit life". When she speaks to her gran I thought she'd speak in a softer tone since she is one of her family members and she does like her gran "Thanks gran". With Mark I was thinking that at first she would talk in a nice tone for act 2 scene 4 until she has met John and realized she does't really like Mark so she speaks with a harsh, defensive tone when he starts saying that it's her fault "The things is, the simple thing is Holly, that you've fucked this up, this but of your life" so she needs to stand up for herself and finally say it's over.
In order to show Holly's character physically I went over stage directions which helped me come up with always having her on a phone or tablet because she records John speeches. It also worked really well because she's young and all young people these days are always on some sort of technology so it seemed to suit her really well. When it comes to how she stands I thought that standing straight wouldn't suit her at all so I decided to have her leaning to the right to give her more of an attitude within her posture. My next movement looking at her nails to show that Holly had no interest in what was going on in that moment. I used this to show she was bored because I feel that when she is bored she would just completely zone out and maybe sigh sometimes. Another movement was hands on hips, I felt like this would show Holly's has an attitude and she wants to have all the attention. I also thought then when reacting to what people say to her she would show a big reaction and use hand gestures which helped take her away from me as well.
For emotion wise I found it every hard because I felt as if Holly wouldn't really show off much emotion, she has this guard up and doesn't really want people seeing what she's going through because deep down I feel like she is very emotional. I was able to actually relate this to myself because when something is going on with me I hide it so I used that to try and help develop Holly's emotion. When it came to Mark because of what's going on between them and the fact she wants to stop I showed anger especially when saying "Mark you're a bastard. You say it yourself." During the Alpha scene I tried to show a bit of frustration because she was actually opening up to the group and they weren't listening or understanding and just moving on to someone else. I thought she would also show anger and annoyed, especially at the end of the scene when Esther tell hers to "Fuck off". When it came to helping out John I showed that she was happy because she was doing something she enjoyed that was helping others and actually feeling apart of something instead of an outsider.
For Holly's hair our finally decision was to have it up in a high pony tail because it was taking her away from my look which is always having my hair down so it showed the character of Holly more.When picking what to wear I had in my mind a leather jacket and black skinny jeans so I decided to look up what Lara Rossi who played Holly at the National Theatre in 2011 wore. I was happy to find out that she did in fact wear a black leather jacket and black skinny jeans. I settled on that and then wore a white blouse and white converses as well to give her that young adult affect as well. For props I had my bag for the alpha scene because the stage direction at the end says 'Holly grabs her bag and goes'. I used my phone and a tablet a lot too so I could record John saying his speech and I walk past Stephen's speech in act 1 scene 6 whilst on my phone 'Holly on her phone'. I also have a tray with a plate and mug on to show I'm eating breakfast for act 2 scene 4 and I'm wearing a dressing gown 'Holly walks towards Mark's breakfast table, wearing a dressing gown with hood up'. My last prop was leaflets that I was giving out for act 4 scene 3 'In the crowd. Holly's handing out leaflets.'
When we discussed the things that influenced Mike Bartlett for the play '13' we discovered that the bible was one of them. Then I found out that my character Holly is based on the prostitute called Holly in the bible and how Jesus isn't ashamed to have her as one of his friends even though she does sleep around and everyone said he shouldn't be friends with her. In the play John actually says "she has sex for money" which connects to the bible in the way that Jesus was telling people about Holly and what she does and he didn't care that she was his friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment