A key aspect in making this play work is the communication of information. Being a play based on true events and therefore fact, its essential that the audience understand what is going on. If this doesn't happen then the effect of the play is lost because the constant journey of the play & unraveling of this crime isn't made clear. As a cast member I think its really easy to forget that because we all know exactly what is going on and have done our research on the crime, therefore to us its really obvious. I had even realized that the words murder or hate crime aren't mentioned until the end of act 1. When this was pointed out to me it changed my whole perspective of the play, and I was able to appreciate that the way this play has been put together in terms of the text is extremely clever and effective. How the journey of meeting this 'great' town, exploring Matthew as a person slowly turns into a dark tale as bit by bit details of this brutal & merciless beating are unraveled.
This knowledge had a large effect on my scene as Leigh at the beginning. Now knowing that at this point the audience don't know anything about the murder, all they know is that a theatre company has come to Laramie to interview people, I was able to focus a lot more on communicating the key points of that monologue. This meant not trying to find too much emotional depth but instead detail in each piece of information. I have often thought that its a lot harder to act a simple, average piece of text than it is to perform something that full of extreme feelings and possesses an incredible emotional journey. Therefore I left that type of acting to my Shadow monologue and tried to speak calmly and slowly with each word so that nothing was missed. However, I think its important to remember that this doesn't mean I'm not acting, I still need to find the truth within the text but this may be a much more normal & simpler truth than it would be for a character who's mum had just died or something heavier like that.
This knowledge had a large effect on my scene as Leigh at the beginning. Now knowing that at this point the audience don't know anything about the murder, all they know is that a theatre company has come to Laramie to interview people, I was able to focus a lot more on communicating the key points of that monologue. This meant not trying to find too much emotional depth but instead detail in each piece of information. I have often thought that its a lot harder to act a simple, average piece of text than it is to perform something that full of extreme feelings and possesses an incredible emotional journey. Therefore I left that type of acting to my Shadow monologue and tried to speak calmly and slowly with each word so that nothing was missed. However, I think its important to remember that this doesn't mean I'm not acting, I still need to find the truth within the text but this may be a much more normal & simpler truth than it would be for a character who's mum had just died or something heavier like that.
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