LESSON THIRTEEN. 9|1|13. 'The Pillowman'

We are now working on the last act of the script, where Katurian returns from murdering her brother and is now confessing on the terms that her stories will be kept safe after her death. The audience have scene Michal confess to murdering of the three children, and now know that Katurian is innocent of the child murders. Obviously, Tupolski and Ariel are unaware of this fact, and still want to brutally murder Katurian.

I read out the confession stood DSL as if I'm proof reading it. I break of the proof reading tone when addressing Katurian about pinning her brothers murder on her, and emphasis 'that' to show she is disgusted with Katurian's actions. The second time I break out of proof reading I'm directing my speech to Emily, and I say it in a angry and confused tone before bluntly saying 'Yeah, you really showed it' to Katurian. The exchange of 'write quicker' between Ariel and Tupolski shows how the relationship is still a little on edge and Tupolski does well to avoid conflict. They are both angry at Katurian but now have a definite reason to kill her, as she murdered her brother. This means I can only see Katurian as a sick person and the hatred only grows stronger. 

At the moment, I'm struggling with finding the correct tone for this line. I'm stood, a metre or so away from Katurian's side whilst she is writing. I must show how I think she's a sick twisted woman. I think if I say it through my teeth but clear enough to hear, it could get a decent tone that would allow the audience to understand the point of hatred Tupolski has towards Katurian.

I re-enter the room after Ariel and Katurian have been alone on stage, and spoke about Katurian's past life that has relevance to Ariel. Tupolski goes straight back to teasing Ariel from this point on until virtually the end of the play. I do this by relaxing my body language and tone which contrasts from Emily, creating humour in the mix match of tension. This also leaves Katurian in the middle of two bickering police members, even though she is about to be killed.

   He Tupolski lets out the big secret of Ariel's past which explains to the audience why Ariel has been so violent towards Katurian throughout the investigation. Ariel sounds a lot like a moaning child in her lines, so my reactions are the folding arms, rolling eyes to show how I think she's being pathetic. I then use this to my own advantage to clear the case up and finish doing what I intended to do without letting Ariel torture her. This shows the audience how Ariel as at the top of her rage, and just wants to get the case over with so she can leave the case shared with Tupolski. It also provides a bit of humour for the audience in the serious situation because Tupolski does not care about what Ariel is saying and would rather follow on with the plan she had.
   I change my positioning (crouched and stood) to correspond with who I am talking to, I also change my tone from formal or monotone when talking to Katurian, to informative with a hint of sarcasm whilst talking to Ariel to continue to wind her up. On the last question I raise my voice to exaggerate the gruesome actions of Michal. This builds up the tension throughout the whole section which takes the audience from feeling calm to uncertain.