Nina from The Seagull

Romola Garai as Nina (The Seagull) 

I have never wrote a post about any character work, and I wanted to write my thoughts down before I went to bed.

I am currently working on The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, for one of my acting scene studies.  Previously, we worked on the Three Sisters and while, I loved that play, the Seagull is feels a little bit lighter to work on.  But only a little bit.

I am assigned to do a scene with Constantine and Sorin in the beginning of the play, where it is the audience's first time to meet Nina in the play.  Our teacher does not like it when we distance ourselves from the character, so for this purpose, I will refer to myself as "Nina".

According to the circumstances from the play, I am a precocious, intelligent, beautiful, bright young girl who longs to break out of her jail cell.  My mother came from a provincial family who owned an estate, and after she passed away, all the land and money went to my father. My father remarried and I do not have a good relationship with him or my stepmother.  In fact, I live in constant fear of them.

•  To indicate when I break out of my character, I will put my own personal comments in bullet points.  As part of my scene study class, our teacher introduced the idea of the personal story which will all you to activate your system in order for you to connect to the character's circumstance of the play.l  I have a lot of similar personal events in my life that helps me connect to Nina, particularly my relationship with my parents.  I have stepparents and I definitely know what it is like to feel disconnected to my parents' new spouses.  Nina addresses her father's wife as her stepmother, but also  as "his wife", which I do with my father's wife because I personally do not see her as my stepmother.  Your relationship with a person is revealed in how you label that person and it seems that Nina. 

 I am in a relationship with Constantine which for me, as an actress is very hard to define.   Later on in the play, there is a scene in which Constantine and I get into a fight over how much we have changed and it is straining the relationship. Whether I love him or not is something I need to further explore in rehearsals.

• I have been in a relationship with someone where I started to stray away and look at other men.  There is something about the relationship that do not make me feel fulfilled.  Perhaps Constantine does not excite Nina creatively, and right now at her life, she is trying to figure out a way to follow her dreams of becoming an actress. 

Immediately at my entrance, I am more wrapped up about showing up for my acting debut rather than actually being there to support Constantine's project.  I know how much this play means to him, and yet, I am more worried about myself because Trigorin will be there to watch me act.  On top of everything, I snuck out of the house and I have to be back in time before my father comes back home.  There are repercussions if I am caught and I will be severely punished.

• When I was younger, I used to sneak out of the house late at night and my mother is really strict with curfew which at times made me feel suffocated at times when I lived at home.  

**Rehearsal with my Teacher**
Sometimes, when you did so much Me Work, it comes down to what you can give to your partner and how much your partner can give you.  I tried to incorporate all these circumstances but when your partner is struggling with your circumstances, you may not know if you these are the right circumstances to play at for the scene.