We chose scenes that we felt were the most entertaining yet still contain a clear reflection on what it was like to be an actress within the restoration period.
We read through the first few scenes together to make sure that we understood all the subtext and more old fashion notions through the play. There were also parts that we needed to see as a clear feminist statement. April De Angellis borrowed real life characters from the Restoration period and used them in her writing.
Within 'Playhouse Creatures' there is Doll Common, Nell Gywn, Rebecca Marshal, Elizabeth Farley and Mrs Betterton. I'm going to look into these characters now to see any correlation to women in the past:
Nell Gywn: (previous blog entry)
Doll Commons: this is actually the name that Samuel Pepys, diarist and theatre enthusiast gave 'Katherine Corey' after seeing her in Ben Johnson's 'The Alchemist'. Katherine had one of the longest longest career of an actress in her generation. Pepys recorded that she was "a big woman with a gift for comedy" noted that she played a variety of roles, but mainly old women, mothers, governesses and waiting women. Whilst playing the part of Sempronia in 'Catiline', Nell Gywn was in a quable with Lady Harvey, and bribed Corey to mimick Harvey in her role. This caused Harvey to set people up to hiss and throw oranges at Corey. Harvey's rival Lady Castlemaine order the king to release Corey when Harvey had ordered for her arrest. Later on, Corey was part of a troupe that tried to form a new company under Henry Killigrew's management, but when this failed Charles Killigrew would not allow Corey to come back into the company until she appealed to the Lord Camberlain with the humble petition of being "the first and the last of all actresses that were constituted by King Charles the Second at his restauration." she was then re-admitted to the company and continued to play further characters.
Rebecca Marshall: was the younger sister of Anne Marshall, another prominant female actress during the restoration period. She was a member of the King's Company until her last year of acting when she moved to the rival Duke's Company. Marshall was renowned for playing the villain or the dark side of the character in all female productions and where Marshall and Boutelle were an infamous pairing they were placed against the Duke's pairing of Mary Betterton and Mary Lee. Rebecca's beauty is noted to have caused her issues, she twice petitioned King Charles the Second protection from disruptive men in her audience. As well as being said to have fueded with Nell Gwyn.
Elizabeth Farley: was noted down as Elizabeth Weaver, as one of the first actresses in the King's Company. Her maiden name was Farley, but used the name of Weaver even though she never apparently married James Weaver of Gray's Inn. Samuel Pepys hinted in 1668, she was a mistress of Charles the Second. She apparently had had a child with James Weaver and then later got into trouble for using her name, and then constant quabbles with other men although still remained to perform in company's.
Mrs Betterton: Formerly Mary Saunderson, before marrying Thomas Betterton, was an actress and singer throughout the 1660's. It was due to her connection with her husband that allowed her to play several leading roles in performances of Shakespeare's play. Mary had a repuatation for virtue and was said to lead a "an unblemished and sober life." After Davenant died and Thomas Betterton took over the company, she continued to play minor roles, her final appearance was then in John Dryden's, Love Triamphant, where she played the leading female role for the last time.
My first initial impressions of the characters, as we only had Farley, Doll & Nell were as such:
Doll: a funny old lady, who is free spirited and takes care of the girls within the theatre as she knows her time being the attractive female is long passed.
Nell: a more uneducated women, dreaming of being part of high society with potential due to beauty but having to work harder. Fairly naive and immature, but kind hearted
Farley: a preachers daughter stuck after his death needing to find the money, has the education and enough looks to get her a job as an actress, but looks out for herself rather than anyone else.
Chipp asked us too start setting the first few scenes and consider the scene changes and lighting. We first focused on the acting side, and we were told to consider how we could make it Brectian, the historical time period is one way, as this distances the current audience as they would find the issues and topics as something they can't really relate too, this is also a case with the characters and with a variety of age, religion and personalities it's hard for the audience to identify with one. The play also follows an epsisodic nature, jumping from scene to scene with no time lapse or development between scenes. As the play is dealing with idea's of feminism it doesn't not need the audience to connect emotionally to the characters on stage, rather provoke reflection on the critical view on stage. Brecht didn't want the audience to be emotional as it causes them to become complacent, rather adopt a critical perspective to recognise social injustice.
We were then asked to consider the transitions between scenes and how to do them more interesting, this is where we noticed Doll almost calls the scene changes. This again created it as it was almost as if the characters were doing a play within a play. We felt that the characters should never really leave stage and that the audience could see the characters move their props and alter them into the use for the next scene or change or adapt their costume. As my character was Doll, I didn't change throughout, so I would be in charge of the set, baring in my my characters comical aspects these would create humour to see an old lady push and carry a set, as she is also a strong willed character who will try her all to do a good job.
In the first scene Nell fears that her and Doll are dead. This is due to the eery and dingey setting. They are portraying spirits of the stage reflecting slightly on being on stage.
In scene two, we see Mrs Farley breaking down when she cannot preach as well as her father, Nell asks her to teach her poetry so she can go for an acting job, but Farley tricks Nell into staying whilst Farley goes for the audition herself. This shows the competitive nature of the females within that industry.
The next scene you see Nell showing Doll about her job as an orange seller within the theatre. This is accurate to Nell's character and it shows her ability to start her way in the theatre, oranges sellers often had to be good looking and were invited on stage to become part of the action. We then see an extract of Farley rehearsing for a show, this is where we can see the more sexualised nature. There is comedy within this as we see a woman who was previously a preachers daughter and becoming 'the fatal maiden'. When the amazon's arrive they are showing a parody of restoration theatre of the strong but sexy women that the audience, particularly the men, would crave.
Here is a video of our blocking of it:
We agreed the first couple of scenes that included Nell, Doll and Mrs Farley were a great way to show the competitive nature that was still there in those days. It shows the type of women that would often turn to acting and what would be desired of them, such as the appealing looks but the ability to read 'poetry'. We decided to use direct address, as we felt that speaking directing speech to the audience directly broke the fourth wall reminding the contemporary audience that they are watching a play.
We then moved onto scene 9 - this looks more at Nell's first appearance on stage and how when she just showed a bit of skin and danced the audience fell to love her. This can tell us that men didn't go to see women at the theatre be talented, rather see women who have appeal and an ability to entertain. This scene's strong
What we then see is the negative turn after Mrs Marshall is no longer the mistress and manure is thrown in her hair from her old lover. Although the women are shocked - this is not as shocking as a current audience would be. The women seem to see it as something that happens, just not expected to happen to them. Being someone's 'Mistress' is something more common to the restoration period.
Moving into scene 10 we see the women face more issues. There is a conversation between Doll and Mrs Betterton that discusses old age and the effect that has on their roles within the theatre, it is also then brought up later in argument. We see Mrs Farley attempting to borrow theatre property for her parties she has been invited too. This shows how it moved you up socially (due to looks) but the salary for being an actress was not enough to support this lifestyle without becoming a mistress where a rich male counterpart could support financially. Mrs Marshall returns attempting to make a voodoo doll of her ex-lover, this brings up the idea of witchcraft, a more common topic within that time period. By the end of the scene, we see that Mrs Farley's lover has moved onto the younger actress Nell, showing the constant cyclical replacement that women would face due to looks and age. It is through this that we see the sexual undermining that constantly set back the women who work hard. It shows that until women work together it is hard for women to not undermine each other with their sexuality to gain advantages in a world that revolves so much around the appearance of a woman.
Another scene we include, is one where Miss Betterton explains to the group how her husband, Mr Betterton, who we know from research is a major part in the ownership of the theatre within that time, has told her she is no longer allowed to perform. We take a moment where Mrs Betterton says 'the younger ones must be given a chance' to use Brecht's technique of gestus. This allows us to create a physical embodiment of the attitudes of the characters within the time. This helps to reflect one of the feminist issues within the play to the contemporary audience.
I wanted to look more at my character and how I would apply a Restoration acting style.
As I am playing the character Doll Common in 'Playhouse Creatures' I wanted to discover the most successful way to play her when considering Brecht and Restoration acting.
Bearing in mind we already know Doll:
-is the nickname for Katherine Corey
-holding the one of the longest acting careers for a female
-played many servants, mothers and nanny's
-friends with Nell, bribed and the consequences ended with her being pelted with oranges
-she tried to form a new company, but it fell through and managed to get a petition that returned her back to her original acting company.
Actresses at this time would not have been from a high class background, they would often appear to be as they would often be able to use theatre property such as makeup and dresses to transform into the characters on stage. This allowed them to mingle and socialise with characters from this period.
In the play, however, Doll appears 'timeless', as an old woman. Through a lot of her lines I see Doll as a women who isn't really with it. Clinging on to any chance to remain within the theatre, which is why we often see her help out the younger actresses and sort out props throughout the play.
The key to performing restoration theatre is mastering the whitty prose, I will have to be on top of my lines, never allowing myself to loose energy within the lines in order to keep the audience with me, this should not be seen as talking fast, just with control and an upbeat pace so the audience can understand what I'm saying. It was common in the restoration period for actors to manipulate this language for the purpose of entertaining the audience.
There are certain archetypes found within restoration theatre, the fop and the wit etc, characters would often use the audience as a means to create humour, which links to Brecht's "spas" technique where he required theatre to be fun. Doll is plays an archetype of an old woman, by playing this stereotypically the audience will find it hard to see much depth to the character making her harder to emotionally comply with. With Doll's part, there is a monologue with a section directly addressed to the audience, this makes it easier to pick fun at members of the audience. Carrying it out considering Brecht, pointing at the audience and calling them 'lords and louts' although a typical feature of restoration theatre used to engage the audience,will actually distance the audience as they are not familiar with being called 'lords' allowing them to focus on the messages of the play and what Doll is saying about the theatres rather than making an emotional connection to the story.
Doll is a bitter character, most likely due to rather than going up in the world of acting, peaking at a young age and then beginning to receive worse and worse jobs until we have reach the point where we see her. It is this bitter nature that contrasts with the rest of the women within the play, Doll has no need to compete for a better part, or to be a mistress to a handsome man. It is this that allows her to say what she pleases and she has no one left judging her.
The location of the play is set in London, and most actors and actresses will have been locals due to the social class of performers and the costs of travel, this means that when not on stage we would most likely hear a more common cockney acccent. I feel that as Doll was a very well loved actress, that she may have played around with her voice when hanging around the well off men that invited her out after shows, her voice may now just appear more rough. It would also have a fairly tired tinge to her voice due to her older age. This will also be apparent in her physical nature, I'm not expecting her to be slow or too feeble, but would not be wearing a corset like the other ladies, making her posture more relaxed. To follow with the consideration of Brecht, once of stage, I will appear to be my own self, reminding the audience that this is a play carrying through the feminist political messages that April De Angellis expresses.
