GOLDY!

As we wanted our piece to include a variety of fairytale characters we went through them to see where they could fit into the story. As we already had covered “The Three Little Pigs” and “Little Red Riding Hood” we thought that “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” needed to make an appearance somewhere. I imagined Goldilocks being some kind of “animal catcher” and she would be responsible for telling the story of the three pigs to Scarlett and blaming the Wolf.

I took on the role of Goldy and felt that she would be similar to Princess Fiona (from Shrek) in her personality. Princess Fiona is a complete contrast to the “normal” fairytale princess, she is physically strong and has similar characteristics of a man (for example, burping). Fiona is a strong and skilled fighter and I wanted to channel these skills into Goldy and this led to her being like a secret agent/ninja/ fighting machine that has the energy of a five-year-old.

 

 

 

This point in our development process was when we confirmed that Mr Pig was responsible for the houses being blown down and framing the Wolf for it. We then thought of having the three bears as his henchmen, but they were actually secret agents working undercover for Goldy, who spends the piece trying to learn the truth.

 

I wanted Goldy’s first entrance to be unforgettable and Shiquerra (Scarlett) and I thought it would be funny if Goldy was to jump onto the stage screaming at the top of her lungs with her hands out in a karate style position (see above photos) scaring Scarlett in the process. Goldy’s entrance would result in Scarlett screaming too and there would be a back and forth head movement between each other and the audience before Goldy would stand up straight and greet Scarlett cheerfully.

Goldy's entrance

Showing her flair for the big and dramatic

We then played about with greetings and decided that Goldy’s birth name was actually Gladys but she changed it when she started to patrol the woods as a secret agent of sorts. I explored the way in which Goldy moved about the stage and I wanted her to be quick and agile and constantly moving. I also wanted her to have a sense for the dramatic in the way in which she spoke about things, for example when Goldy says “I go by Goldy now” I would deliver my line staring out into the distance as if she was in some sort of daze. Another example was Goldy’s description of the Wolf which involved a lot of pulling Scarlett side to side as Goldy moved around her giving descriptions (“Did he have piercing red eyes? And razor, sharp teeth”) (2:40-2:50 in video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzzFojfUWac&feature=youtu.be

Before we had even started devising the scene we had made the decision that Goldy would speak quite quickly to match her movement and further emphasise her enormous amounts of energy, which were probably the result of a sugar rush. The speed at which Goldy speaks out was no difficulty at all for me as I naturally speak quickly and so it meant that I had no struggles with performing Goldy with full energy. However because Goldy’s speech was fast paced it meant I had to pay careful attention to my diction because words would get lost due to the pace I was speaking out. I questioned whether I needed to speak slower but everyone I enquired said that they loved the way I was performing Goldy and felt  the fast-paced dialogue was essential to her overall personality, but commented on the importance of diction to ensure that I spoke clearly otherwise funny dialogue would get lost between Scarlett and Goldy.

I think the most important thing for me as an actor when getting into the role of Goldy was the movement as it helped me capture the energy of her. Goldy’s movement varies from quick and staccato to slow and sweeping but all movement remained large as if I am extending my body to its limit. I really enjoyed getting to be Goldy as I found that the children really liked her from the minute she jumped onto the stage screaming. In our first sessions when looking at Theatre for Children we looked at the ways in which to interact with the children whether it be bringing children to join us on stage or asking them questions or just speaking directly at them rather than to them. In our piece we found the perfect opportunity to include some audience interaction after Goldy has taught Scarlett ways in which to defend herself (Stealth and Power). Once Goldy has exited using “Stealth” (4:36-4:40 in video) she calls to the children asking for their help as she has got confused with the moves. During the tour Shiquerra called up teachers and students as well as getting them all to do it from their seats. In all three approaches the children were laughing and confident to call out to help Scarlett and were not shy to join Scarlett on stage.

STEALTH!

POWER!

STEALTH EXIT!

Nothing about Goldy was subtle and that is especially true for my entrances and exits, which involved jumps, Goldy’s “stealth” move and hiding behind a newspaper. As Goldy is some sort of secret agent I spent time choreographing movement that helped portray this. This involved a lot of quick head movements as if I was checking that no one was following me and footwork that resembled tiptoeing and sneaking around. When Goldy meets the Wolf the movement I used was much more dramatic and emphasised that she was sneaking around. I would keep my arms out to the sides as if trying to keep balance and my legs remained bent as I walked as if I could duck down at a moment’s notice.

In my first scenes as Goldy she is quite manic and explosive on the stage as she speaks quickly and moves with precision and agility but there is then a slight contrast in our final scene when she comes to the Brick House to take Mr Pig away. When she walks in she is now “Officer Goldy” rather than “Secret Agent Goldy” and has developed an air of authority about her. I felt that this slight change in character would help show that despite her “craziness” Goldy is the “authority figure” in our piece. To create this authority I changed my body movement so it was much more straight-laced and placed my hands on my hips to show the clout and influence Goldy has over the other characters.

Goldy was an incredibly fun role to play and one I was able to immerse myself in to the point that I would find myself out of breath once I was offstage. High energy was essential to our piece working effectively and it was often commented that Goldy was one of the high energy points. Looking back over the development and performances of our piece the role of Goldy would have been less successful if performed in any other way other than large and loud and manic!

 

"Little pig, little pig let me in"

"Not by the hairs on my chinny, chin, chin!"