I say and think this because she tries to help Mary when she needs it, tries to talk her out of running away, and looks after her when she goes into labour.
Yet she keeps the fact that she has already had a baby a secret and it seems she hasn’t told anyone about her past.
Examples of this are:
“Has it gone?” (Page 48, Scene 9)
and
“I’ll run a bath.” (Page 52, Scene 10
and,
“’Cos I’ve had one alright, I’ve had one!!!” (Page 49, Scene 9)
I also imagine Queenie to be very opinionated and very nosy.
Examples from the script that show this are:
“You’re acting like a kid!” (Page 45, Scene 9)
and
“What will you tell him?” (Page 52, Scene 10)
During my performance I had to express a range of emotions, from nostalgia to panic.
The first emotion I conveyed was curiosity, by interrupting the heated discussion Mary and Matron were having by asking:
“Where are you going?” (Page 44, Scene 9)
Another example of an emotion I expressed was disappointment. Queenie tries to hide the fact that she is disappointed that Mary tells her she can’t sing.
“I’m not bothered.” (Page 48,Scene 9)
Another emotion I had to show was anxiety. Queenie seems nervous when Mary goes into labour and this is one of things that I think leads her to reveal that she has already had a baby. You can tell she is nervous by the short ‘stilted’ sentences.
“If it is you’ll be all right. If it is you’ve got hours.”
Another emotion I had to express was nostalgia, when Queenie talks about her son. She is really enthused just by thinking about him.
“William Thomas Burns. Dead bright, crawling at five months, into everything like his Dad.”
Another emotion I had to put across was kindness. Queenie immediately decided to run her friend a bath after her ordeal of giving birth while locked in an attic as well as helping Matron when she requests it.
“I’ll run her a bath” (Page 52, Scene 10)
To make the scenes realistic I had to incorporate movements and gestures into my speech. Examples of such were holding my bump (Queenie is also pregnant), just resting my hand on it when I was standing up. Another is putting my hand at the small of my back when getting up as if giving myself support or balancing myself, due to the weight at the front of me. Also during part of the script Mary tries to comfort/cheer Queenie up and gets her to go and sit in her bed. Also to give to the impression that I was pregnant I moved slower, e.g. getting out of a chair, getting up off the bed. Also when I was comforting Mary and trying to calm her down I touched her arm in a reassuring way.
When questioning someone I would lower my eyebrows and look at that person pointedly,
“Did I?” (Page 53,Scene 10)
When Queenie was concerned for Mary I would obviously shave a concerned look on my face.
“What will you tell him?” (Page 52, Scene 10)
Shaking my head and pursing my lips when disagreeing with Mary, example of which is:
“I’m telling you kid it’s a dead end.” (Page 45, Scene 9)
Frowning when Queenie tries to open the door and finds it locked:
“Holy bloody cow!” (Page 46, Scene 9)
Smiling and looking decidedly happy when Queenie talks about her son that she gave up:
“I had him for nine. He was walking at nine, would you believe?” (Page 50, Scene 10)
I used different voice tones throughout the scene to help convey my emotions and make the scenes more realistic.
Examples of this are, when Queenie was shocked and I gasped:
“You what?” (Page 48, Scene 9)
When Queenie was anxious and trying to get the attention of Matron so I raised my voice,
“Matron? Get here!!!” (Page 49, Scene 9)
When Queenie was trying to keep calm and started singing,
“Going to the Chapel and we’re gonna get married” (Page 49, Scene 9)
Being polite but firm when Mary asks Queenie to go with her to the coast and grabs a hold of her arm.
“Get off!!!” (Page 45, Scene 9)
Being quiet and softly spoken when talking to Mary when she has a hold of her baby and Queenie and Matron are trying to coax her into giving up the baby.
“Come on now…” (Page 52, Scene 10)
The dramatic highlights of the scenes were when Mary goes into labour and Queenie tells Mary that she has already had a baby,
“’Cos I’ve had one, all right? I’ve had one!” (Page 49, Scene 9)
This is because it is a shock not only to both the characters but to the audience as well; Queenie never meant to tell her and she hadn’t told Mary, therefore adding to the drama.
The costume and props showed that we were in an ‘institution’ as we were wearing blue pinafores and white shirts, showing that there was some sort of order, like a school. We used duvet covers and chairs to make beds, we had a doll and a baby blanket and a towel as props to try and make the scene more realistic an try to give the audience a better idea of what was going on.
Also in the script the characters play a record called ‘So Young’ by the Ronettes. I managed to get a copy of this so e could play it when it was required.
The lighting should be dark blues coming from where the windows would be as it is nighttime during these scenes in particular:
“And how will you get out the house? She locks every door at night.”
(Page 45, Scene 9)
Also could be used are a pair of table lamps or a large white/yellow lamp, maybe or maybe pink/blue/green/purple depending on what colour the room is.
I didn’t feel nervous when it came to the final performance, but apparently I acted like I was, which wasn’t intentional. I was happy with our final performance as I didn’t think the other members of my group had learnt their lines that well and we’d practiced properly only once or twice due to absences. I remembered all my lines, and remembered all the movements and gestures we’d practised and what ideas we’d been given.
I think the very first time when Matron left,
“You’re acting like a kid.” (Page 45, Scene 9),
went really well as this was the bit me Marie and I had really practiced we even went over parts of this over the phone.
The only part of the script I was unhappy with was the fact that Queenie had an accent that I had never heard before, is rarely on T.V. and that I couldn’t find on videos or anything that I could pick it up from. I did try to get the accent and did research on it but without success. So I just spoke with my usual accent as I could learn how to speak with a Nottingham accent.
We encountered a few difficulties during rehearsals for example the positioning of props and using the space available .It was difficult as we needed two beds, we needed a tape player and we needed to choose the best place for the door.
Learning the lines in scene nine where Mary thinks the baby is coming, we kept confusing lines that are similar like:
“It’s the excitement.” (Page 48, Scene 9) and
“Nerves and Excitement and…” (Page 48, Scene 9)
Another difficulty I had was trying to get the tape, but I eventually managed to get it through one of my Mam’s colleagues at work.
Other than that we were fine. I don’t think our performance was brilliant, but I thought it was okay. A number of different factors affected the final performance, lack of rehearsal, effort, etc.