Hooray, I’m in the show! Now the real work begins >:)
Over the summer I had a few objectives in mind.
- Read Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express
- Read Ken Ludwig’s adaptation, noting the experience of Colonel Arbuthnot and understanding the active ideas of the text.
- Stay away from any media about the book and its adaptations
- Read Dean Donnellan’s The Actor and the Target
- Learn a Scottish accent
Reading the book was simple and a solid investment for my character. Even though the book Arbuthnot is different than the play (in the book he is Indian, in the play he is from Scotland), the book has more details that I can use in my given circumstances.
Reading the play I’ll be performing is essential, but it’s also essential to be cautious. I need to keep away from anyone else’s interpretations, to include my own. If I were to memorize the lines and ideas strictly, I would hurt my ability to explore later in the process. To not fall into this trap, I chose not to read the play aloud until our first rehearsal. I also did some minor research to understand the Colonel more.
After reading The Actor and the Target, I realized that the book wouldn’t be helpful to me quite yet. It’s based on how to perform without fear and do great acting, but I was still in the preparation stage. There were a few things I integrated, but its real impact would emerge later in the process when I was completely off-book.
As for learning a Scottish accent, that was tough! Marc gave me an accent breakdown and some tips on finding native speakers. Much of my preparation was exploring the sounds of the accent and drilling them until I could integrate them into regular speech. On my daily walks, I’d point at objects and say it in a Scottish accent. Over about two months I went from stumbling through the world ‘gurgle’ to being able to joke around and speak in account with minimal effort.
Aside from my accent meetings with Marc, I did all of this work by myself. This made our first rehearsal all the more intimidating and exciting.