Theatre of Cruelty: "Building a Character"

Building A Character

For my Theatre of cruelty performance, I had to create a character story and background for the character of “The Ballerina”. I was really happy I was given that character, as I watched a movie called “Black swan” and I was very drawn into how the actress, Natalie Portman portrayed this change in character from vulnerable and delicate, to envious, greedy and strong. I believe it was the uncertainty of how I would choose to develop my character that made me want to do it, as the original story of a bailarina that kills because she is not given a part was for me quite unrealistic at first. However, fro the Hot Seating exercise I managed to get some help for my story!!

I chose to give my character a very dark and unhappy background story, because I wanted to show a hidden vulnerability that would be interwoven in the speech. I made her father and alcoholic, and her mother a very submissive woman that wasn’t able to stand up for herself. I made the pain and shock of watching her mother live with no love, all the self-consciousness and insecurities be the triggering point for my character to find what she didn’t want to be like. To take the theatre of cruelty essence further, I wanted to exhibit a darker twist. I created a sexual conflict between her father and my character, and brought it to light when saying in my monologue “he wanted me more”. This was opened to interpretation, however I chose to include this to bring out to light something that would be uncomfortable for the audience to assimilate. Also, I chose to match this line a smile and a little laugh, to show that I was okay with my father wanting me more when recording the monologue. Here, I wanted to show again that my character even found pleasure in the situation, and at the same time I showed to the audience a very important trait that directs my characters actions, and it is that of wanting to always strive for attention, and feeling power when gaining it!

I wanted to play around with accents, as I never get the chance to do so. I chose to be half Russian, as a challenge for myself!

In my monologue, I also wanted to introduce a connection to my passion for dancing. I didn’t want to make it something that had always been with her, but instead something that she had to hold onto for survival. I therefore thought that making a child’s authorities oblige her to dance in order to give her the power to live her own life was a good part of the background for her story.

when did hot seating last class, I started scratching my arms when asked about when I killed Natalia. This movement came unconsciously, but  used it to my characters advantage, as I thought that it was a sign of weakness. Although she appeared to be more confidence and secure about her actions, that tick she had showed that deep inside she was scared.

Final outcome of the monologue!!:

The killing motif of the story was introduced when saying that her father killed her mother. Killing such an important figure as a mother is meant to create sadness, and the very act of killing is a sin as well. I played around with the recurring motif of survival of the fittest, and linked it to her ambition  for being the best and eliminating all those that come in  her way. For this, I showed in the monologue when saying “I wish I did it first” that she has now become immune to the act of killing those that are weak, and therefor show that this is one of the reasons for which she feels accepted in the community of Celestine.

Link for photo:

http://crazyyetwise.com/2011/01/21/movie-review-black-swan/

Final outcome:

My name is Katerina. And I am one of the children of eternal happiness. Why I joined, its easy. I wanted power. My dad was an alcoholic, and my mother, a dependent housewife that lived her life depressed, because she married a  man that abused her, and still could not leave him. She was so vulnerable. So weak. She blamed me, for my father wanting me more. She would try to make me feel the same, by calling me worthless and a big mistake. She deserved to die, my dad did the right thing, only I wish I did it first. Children’s authorities enrolled me in an institution, tried to protect me, they thought I was weak too. They made me dance, to release my tensions.

I got a scholarship to dance at a school. But people, people always have to get in the way, in my way. People say that there is always room for more people, that company is a good thing, but that is not true. There can only be one of us. There can only be one black swan, one! But people wont just leave; they wont just admit that they are useless. So, I had to make them leave.

I was watching Natalia dance and all I could think of is how much I wanted her to suffer, to fall, and die. Celestine’s voice told me that I was too good to let anyone else get in my way. That I had the power inside me, I just had to let it out. And so I did. And I am So happy”.