Pick a character and consider your approach as an actor in the portrayal of character. In at least 500 words, outline and explain your thoughts in an essay for submission next Thursday. In your answer you should refer to: • The original production, • The writer’s idea(l)s for the portrayal of the characters, • Vocal and physical characterisation, • Motivation, • Interaction with other characters. Donald. As an actor playing Donald in Blue Remembered Hills you would have to consider the background of Donald.
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His father is not around and his mother abuses and beats him; this would have an effect on his confidence around his ‘friends’ and how forward he is with the other characters. This could be shown through the actors’ use of voice; is character would be played with a soft, quite voice, which would portray his distance from his boisterous, loud friends. He is also shown playing with the girl characters in the play, which shows how he is happy to play with the other sex, in order to be liked and accepted by others.
This also shows the motivation of Donald’s character, which is simply to be accepted; he is desperate to be liked by the other children. He is also timid towards the male characters in the play segregating him and acting as the outcast in the play. The girls eventually do not accept him when they turn on him and torment him. Donald is also still acting his age, as a seven year old, compared to the others who are trying to be like adults which is shown through them smoking. This would give the actor a characterisation on Donald.
This could be shown through childlike actions for example laying on his stomach, or wiping his nose with his bare hand or shirtsleeve. Some thing else the actor should consider is that the original production was for the television, which means the actor will have to use their voice in a variety of different ways. Dennis Potter wanted the children in Blue Remembered Hills to be played by adults; this fundamentally magnifies childhood through out the play. He wanted the feel of the actors to be as if they were actually children and not just an adult pretending to be a child.
