Playing Old Sally

Photo credit: http://www.fredsternfeld.com/Pics/oliver/oliver%20046.jpg

Today was my first rehearsal for my "Old Sally" character, and playing this character, however short her appearance onstage may be, is harder than I expected. I realized today that I need to work harder on the Cockney accent, and on character development. Although this was my first time playing the part, there are only 3 weeks left to rehearse, and I realize that the work needs to happen now.

One important thing about this character is her age, seeing as she is so old that she actually dies onstage. Yikes. I need to work on playing this very old age through my physicality and voice. I will have to be slow-moving, hunched over, and weak in order for my death to be believable at all. This became clear to me at rehearsal today when dropping dead onstage felt about as realistic as an alien invasion.

I also realized that speaking with a different accent requires a lot of work outside of rehearsal. I need to spend more time with my accent cd so that I sound more Cockney and less... confused...

All being well I can make these changes and continue to develop the Old Sally character.