b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2018-19Marys Room : A Discussion of a Rehearsal ProcessReflective AnalysisElizabeth BrownIn February 2019, I was fortunate enough to be cast inOnce we had taken on the physicality of our characters, Theatre With Teeths Marys Room, an original play writtenAna asked us to imagine different situations which our by third year English student Amy White. The play dealscharacters might find themselves in, and to think about with difficult and moving concepts such as the questionhow they would react, for example being lost in a train of what it means to be human, as well as what it meansstation or getting caught in the rain. This led us on to to be a good friend. In this article I will aim to go intohot-seating. One by one we sat in front of our fellow detail about the process of creating the show and what itcast members and were asked a series of questions about was like bringing our characters to life. Each character inour characters and, in character, we had to respond to the show has a complicated and interesting relationshipthem. The questions explored our characters traits and with my character Mary and the process of cultivatingbackgrounds. My characterisation process began with those relationships and bringing truth to them was a veryMary being extremely defensive and cold. Marys character rewarding experience required a lot of background information being decided by myself with input from the writer, director and the other The cast is made up of four characters. First there iscast members. I needed to consider why Mary had such Adam, played by Luke Gyesi-Appiah. Adam is an AIstrong negative feelings about her parents, as she disagrees presence created by the egotistical and ambitious scientistwith her parents on almost everything, something which Shelley (Nikki Palmer), and her quirky but equally brilliantcomes to light through her conversations with Adam colleague, Cavendish (Will Davies). My character, Mary,within the play itself. However, in order for those emotions is a botany student and flora enthusiast, who becomesto become true for me as the actor, I needed to give myself involved in the experiment with Adam by being tasked(and Mary), a reason to feel that way. Ana led me, as well with the seemingly impossible task of teaching him howas everyone else in the cast through an exercise about to be human. At first, it does seem like this is really whatthinking about our characters pasts. Some of it was done the scientists want for Adam, but they get more thanin character, and some of it was part of a wider discussion they bargained for with this particular student. A bond, aas a cast during which we all gave our opinions about friendship, blossoms between Mary and Adam. However,everyones character. Deciding on backgrounds for our due to Shelleys jealousy and mistrust of Mary, it ends withcharacters not only gave them more depth but also gave us unfortunate circumstances for both Mary and Adam.the opportunity to portray our characters more truthfully.Because the play was cast in early February and its firstAs the weeks went by, we began to explore our characters performance was in June, we had a lot of time to rehearse.not just individually, and we began to think about what In fact, we had more time than most university societytheir relationships to the other characters were. The script shows have between casting and first performance. Ouris written in such a way that Mary and Adam are often director, Ana, was keen not to make the process dull orcoupled together in scenes, as are Shelley and Cavendish. boring for us at all given how much time we had. WeAna led us by getting us to think about these two sets began our first rehearsal by doing a very useful exerciseof characters together. Mary and Adams relationship is in which we walked around the studio space while slowlyat the heart of the performance with their conversations taking on the physical attributes and characteristics of ourproviding a lot of the exposition that goes towards the characters. Of course, what this exercise looked like onaudience understanding both their motives during the the first day of rehearsals compared to the warm-up beforeplay.Marys turning point as a character needed to be our first performance was widely different - however it wasclear for the audience. The moment that she turns from a extremely beneficial to immediately get a feel for who weguarded and disinterested teenage student to the moment thought our characters were on the first day.when she begins to let her guard down and trust Adam 26'