This is a guest post written by Heather Moss, a TVT regular since 2006. I love how she describes her journey as an actress in Curious Savage. I witnessed her transformation, so Heather asked me to weigh in. The bulk of the words are Heather’s, and the interjected blue comments are mine (in honor of my character, Mrs. Savage’s, hair.) I hope you have a cup of tea and a cozy spot, folks, because this is a bit of a long post!
I consider myself a very positive person. I try to be optimistic in everything that I do. (Also very even-tempered. Which is probably even more important in her job working with kids.)
So I’m sure that it was because of how well the director knew my personality that I was cast in a role that was completely opposite than how I am in real life. (In real life, Heather is the lady that dresses up as Elsa on Valentine’s Day, and asks the parents in her hometown if any children would like a visit from a princess. No cost. Just wanting to spread some love. That’s Heather.)
Mrs. Paddy only had four lines in the show, but she packed quite a bit in each of those lines. I think in total, she says over 100 things that she HATES. Since her lines were lists rather than responses to questions, I recorded myself saying each line so I could listen to each set over and over. I finally managed to recite all four lines without looking at my script, but I said them in a monotone because I thought that was how she would say them. (Yeah, it was really monotone. Like she was reciting a grocery list.)
There was a point during one of the runs of the first scene when the director told me I needed to be angrier. We stopped, went back, and I repeated my lines. We kept going but I still felt like I wasn’t angry enough. (Nope. Still groceries.)
That night, I went home and tried to think of a way to bring out any anger I had in my life. At that point, I didn’t have anything to make me mad. So I reminisced back to all the times that I had been wronged by friends, ex-boyfriends, and even occasionally family members. There are plenty of instances in my past that get me extremely riled up. And I have never allowed myself to fully release that anger in a verbal way.
I still remember how our next rehearsal went. I was so excited to “unleash the beast” because quite honestly, I didn’t know how it was going to go. I had gone over it in my head multiple times, but I had never just let go and opened Pandora’s Box so to speak.
So we started the scene and it was coming up on my line. I closed my eyes for a moment and thought, “Ok, let out all that anger that you’ve had stored up for all these months and years. Let it ALL out!”
So I did. I was no longer Heather. I was a fed up, misunderstood woman who had been wronged by someone she loved dearly.
I don’t think the rest of the cast or the directors had any idea of what I was going to do at rehearsal that night because they all just kind of stopped for a moment after my first rant without going on with the scene. I had never really brought out any real anger in my delivery before, so I can only imagine what was going through their heads. (Shock. Fear. Confusion. And then… the slow clap. YES!)
The next level of Mrs. Paddy was her look. Costume and makeup does a lot to help an actor really encompass the role. Mrs. Paddy’s wig and her aged makeup was the finishing touch of my transformation. (Shout out to the amazing Becky Thorpe for working her magic!)
We would run a scene and my cast members would get creeped out just by looking at me when I was in character on stage. It was a total blast. (I joined in the creeping out. We are both like 29 in real life in this photo…)
You might think the transformation would end when we started running the show. Not at all. That was Mrs. Paddy’s next layer revealed. The very last thing Mrs. Paddy says is a huge stepping stone for her because she not only says a full sentence, she tells Mrs. Savage that she loves her and wishes she wouldn’t leave the facility. Mrs. Paddy has not been able to do that since her husband told her to shut up, so it was a very big moment for Mrs. Savage, Jeff, and Mrs. Paddy to share. (I’ll admit, it gave me chills every performance to be on the receiving end of Mrs. Paddy’s unexpected love.)
Up until opening night, I had just smushed all of her last lines together and run offstage. But then I realized before the first time doing the last scene in front of an audience that she needed to be visibly conflicted more than I had done before when saying goodbye to Mrs. Savage. So I slowed down my line a bit and broke my voice with emotion.
It went very well.
By our last performance, I had a lot of people feeling for Mrs. Paddy. Almost every night, someone would tell me afterwards that I made them cry, which I consider to be a sign of success as a performer. (It took a lot of skill to make a convincing transformation in such few choice lines. Once Heather figured out how to pour emotion into Mrs. Paddy, she completely owned that character!)
The very last scene when Mrs. Savage is leaving is one of my favorite scenes because I got to let Heather (me) into Mrs. Paddy and help her show happiness through her painting, smiling, and showing her contentment with life. (That’s actually a good point. For most of the play, Heather is on stage silently fuming as Mrs. Paddy. She has to keep up the crankiness in the background of everything. Which is why the final happy scene was probably such a fun relief for Heather!)
Mrs. Paddy was a huge experience for me. I’ve never allowed myself to express anger because I don’t like being angry. But playing Mrs. Paddy gave me the outlet to get all that emotion out without obviously directing it at any particular person.
It was extremely therapeutic for me to play her. I will always be grateful for this unique opportunity to be someone who is so visibly conflicted.
Thanks for sharing, Heather! What an excellent case study of theatre as a healthy release for pent up emotion. We’ll let you get back to your gorgeous smile!
2016-06-30 22:23:40
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