PLAY

PLAY

from the beginning of the process Ben has repeatedly emphasised the importance of constantly playing to find new things in each of our scenes. This experimentation and idea of "play" can be expressed through our physicality, actions, intonation, tone, pitch, pace, scene objectives and journeys. He pushed us to keep on playing even in our shows to keep the raw energy and freshness of our first rehearsal and maintaining it until the curtain call on the 31st.

Our first lesson back from Christmas break was focused almost solely on playing ending with a few runs/rework of the new years party scene.

We played the games stuck in the mud and tag, evoking a frighteningly overwhelming sense of excitement in a room full of young adults, but this was of course the desired effect.

The first comment of feedback was made by Courteney who explained how his motivation and fuel came in the form of competition which a majority of the class shared. Although i didn't feel the same way exactly i do understand how the element of competition no matter how small can jumpstart this little engine inside of us pushing to take that one step further. Competition is especially prevalent in the world of our play amongst the traders, Claudia and Skilling, employees, Lawyers etc. There is competition in the air with everyone fighting to get a foothold on the next rung, it is every man (and woman) for themselves. I feel as though there is a direct link between adrenaline and competition and it's almost like an addictive drug to these characters but the truth is that there is something in this within all of us. When competing there's always something to lose and something to gain, even if it's a game of tag you risk potentially getting caught and/or of course embarrassing yourself. There are always stakes. All of these are directly relative and applicable to our characters mine especially as risk assessment is a large part of his job.

I find it useful to imagine what kind of child my character would be (especially Fastow) and in relation to competition i feel like he'd be very hesitant to join in as he know's he isn't very good but when/if he does eventually get involved, he gets carried away and ends up hurting someone. This metaphor directly links to Andy sitting on the raptor idea for what i imagine a very long to only have the idea realised by skilling stumbling upon them.

i felt my excitement wasn't entirely rooted in the competition but more in the opportunity to run around and not have to intellectualise everything that i do. Hector had the same point saying that when you're acting it's always "i'm going to pick up this pen, why am i picking up this pen, who am i picking it up for, how do i pick up this pen" which is useful of course when establishing motivations but is also quite exhausting. To play tag requires impulse and quick thinking rather than the slow considered movement maybe slightly exaggerated in the anecdote mentioned previously.

We then were instructed to carry on playing the game but this time to play as if an audience was watching.

I was sceptical on this at first because "surely we should be doing exactly the same thing, if the goal of performing is to achieve a naturalistic performance?" There was no additional context, direction or just to pretend that we were performing to an audience.

In the feedback for this it was mentioned that we should be projecting but i feel like in ensemble scenes like that it's okay for moments and playground to be shared amongst a small group or one side of the audience unless there is a scripted scene proceeding at the same time. It was also mentioned that the audience position would effect our performance but i thought this was already done well via a natural spreading out of people through running away from "it". When adding the element of performance i feel like some of the authenticity is lost and i feel as though that was the lesson to learn. There is a difficulty of putting a party or any unrehearsed ensemble scene on stage as there has to be a balance of play and control to what may simply look like chaos

We finished the focus on play by flocking, this is where the ensemble is led by one person making an action and it eventually reaching everyone in the group. At the start there was an established leader making it a lot easier but we eventually lost that and just followed whoever or whatever movement caught or attention. I think i enjoyed this part more as things happened by accident, like at one point someone repositioned their hair and this became one of the repeated gestures or someone would try and emulate someone else's gesture and accidentally create something entirely new.

This nicely brings me on to one of Bens speeches on messing up. An extremely valid point was made on the topic of mistakes as something is bound to go wrong but it's the ability to deal with it by either working it into the performance or simply staying in the moment that determines the success or failure of a show.

CHARACTERISATION

My initial approach to forming Andy was based off of what i interpreted in the text and what i got from the directors vision for the play and a few personal notes. It was clear that Ben wanted this play to be bold, energetic, loud and vibrant, so i decided that any character choices be them physical or psychological i would push to the boundaries of naturalism breaching surrealism and create something all in all quite strange. I was told by the director that they wanted my fastow to be completely detached from the Fastow of the second half, that he should be awkward, weak and lacking common social skills and any sense of boundaries/personal space.

physicality/mannerisms

The text describes Fastow as "nervy and lupine" which probably informed my first physical approach to the character. I started off just walking around thinking of these words and slowly letting them manifest physically, going from neutral to exaggerated then back to neutral hitting intervals in-between. I brought this into rehearsals from an early stage and allowed myself to experiment with posture and movement qualities, figuring out what felt right for Andy.

Theres a sort of constant fidget to Fastow as he's always thinking of something new and this movement is the result of his body trying to keep up with his brain. This fidgeting is carried out mostly through his hands and fingers but is also evident in where his attention lies, it's more prominent when he's uncomfortable (anytime he's with other people and initially with skilling but this subsides as their scene unfolds). He's constantly thinking about how he's being perceived and balancing this with his nature as he knows it unsettles people and ironically his overt self-consciousness only draws more attention to his awkwardness.

His eyes are widened in nervous and energetic manner as if he doesn't link so that doesn't miss anything. It seems as though he's constantly hopped up on adrenaline, and pitifully trying to just "act natural".

His posture is poor, and he slouches due to numerous years of studying numbers at work to go home and study numbers some more and i imagine him wearing glasses for that exact reason. His stance is poor and he plants his feet together encouraging an instability that i wanted to communicate to the audience, we have to show them the vulnerable side to Fastow building pathos, it's almost as if the audience want to help and him which i think worked well based off of audience response post shows.

One of my favourite for fastow is his "unsettling grin" i took this concept of a grin and rather than making it unsettling and creepy as the rest of his physicality i made the decision to give this warmth making him a little more human and further pushing this aspect of vulnerability. I wasn't too confident on the success of this choice up until the first show but i ended up going for it and finding it being one of my most successful and distinctive character choices. From this i learnt the benefits of making bold decisions, sticking to them and them paying off. Although it may not always work, it's pretty satisfying when it does.

~

Andy is s unable to pick up on social cues and consequently sets himself up as a target for bullying, this is where his story begins, two coworkers coerce Fastow into talking to the company vips simply for their entertainment and thus Skilling meets Fastow.

Influences

When i first started working on fastow i looked for inspiration for voice, movement etc. and i began looking at Elliot Anderson - played by Rami Malek from Mr Robot and Will Graham played by Hugh Dancy from Hannibal.

Both of these characters (like Fastow) are uniquely intelligent but held back by their ability to socialise. Hugh Dancys character this tightened jaw which creates a really interesting vocal quality evoking a sense of pain and self censorship, he wants to say the right things but is worried it will be misunderstood or misinterpreted. I tried to experiment this and it did inform my voice slightly but it just didn't quite work for the stage in terms of volume and enunciation. Like Fastow theres a sort of concealed darkness to Will Graham and he eventually his thoughts become his very own antagonist as Andys Raptors become his. We watch him and root for him to only then question him and consequently ourselves for supporting the bad guy.

On Mr Robot Rami Malek communicates to the audience through a thought track voice over, he uses a complex vocabulary in a monotonous way but in a way that he says is understood by the listener. I think where Fastow differs from Elliot is in his enthusiasm but from certain moments of desperation in Mr Robot i drew from Elliot's volatility. He appears to be weak and spineless but when needs be he can get his point across, Fastow prefers the pen but is ready with the swords when needs be. The thing that drew me to Mr Robot was its almost uncanny links to Enron in which Elliot works for a company called E-corp (nicknamed evil corp) and depicts high level corporate crime and immoral company decisions. Theres even a scene where the CEO of the company surprises one of the leads with the line "you know it's my birthday today". The tone of the show is definitely i strived for in Fastow's character as they almost dehumanise everything, Elliot's clear battle his mental health is something thats explored in Mr Robot but not so much in Enron. I therefore created the context that Andy Fastow has high functioning autism, explaining his social incapabilities and natural flair for mechanical things such as numbers and graphs.

Voice

I found the accent work came naturally but i did struggle to build character through voice, i had to project, maintain the accent and enunciate a complex vocabulary of technical business terms in long speeches and thought processes. The most helpful note on this was one given by my director near the end of the process which was to deliver it like the C.S.I. where they're figuring everything out suddenly and somehow making a loud of complex speech understandable. Seeing as i'd broken down the text and learnt to understand what it means, it was a big worry of mine that the audience would have no idea what i was saying at the pace i had to say it. I found a solution in that when it got quite heavily wordy i would have the objective of making Jeff understand using tactics such as over enunciation and varying pace to almost dumb it down for him and therefore, the audience. This did work but i feel that my comfortability with the text also helped a great deal as when i became more confident, it became easier to produce these chunks of texts however i had to be careful not to get lazy in terms of diction and fall into the trap of assuming that people know what i'm saying because i remember reading it for the first time and having no idea what was going on. I learnt the importance of regular vocal exercises, working my articulators and breath control when performing in an accent and how much of a difference it makes.

EVENTS TIMELINE

1985 - Enron is formed, HNG CEO Kenneth Lay becomes CEO of the combined company the following year. 

"Lay: 1985 when i oversaw the merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth to head of a new unnamed company" 

1989 - Enron begins trading natural gas commodities.

1990 - Lay hires Jeffrey Skilling to lead the company's effort to focus on commodities trading in the deregulated markets. Andrew S. Fastow is one of Skilling's first hires later that year.

"Fastow (to skilling): Andy Fastow, you hired me"

1991 - Richard Causey leaves Arthur Andersen LLP to join Enron as assistant controller.

1997 - Skilling named president and chief operating officer of Enron. Fastow creates Chewco, a partnership, to buy the University of California pension fund's stake in another joint venture dubbed JEDI, but Chewco doesn't meet requirements to be kept off Enron's balance sheet. First step toward similar financial moves to hide debt and inflate profits that fuel Enron's downfall.

"Lay: Today i am pleased to announce the appointment of Jeffrey Skilling to the post of President of the Enron corporation"

1998 - Fastow named finance chief.

"Lay: Young Andy Fastow? - Skilling: He's our new Chief Financial Officer"

1999- Causey named chief accounting officer. Fastow creates the first of two partnerships, LJM. Enron directors approve Fastow's plan that he run the partnerships that do deals with Enron while continuing as Enron's finance chief. Causey and former chief risk officer Rick Buy assigned to monitor such deals to protect Enron's interests.

"Fastow: LJM After my wife and kids Lea, Jeffrey and -"

"Ok?!"

2001: Aug. 14 - Skilling resigns; Lay named CEO again.

"News Reporters: In breaking news, enrons CEO has resigned. Now the market's left asking the same question it's famous for. WHY?"

Oct. 16 - Enron announces $638 million in third-quarter losses and a $1.2 billion reduction in shareholder equity stemming from writeoffs related to failed broadband and water trading ventures as well as unwinding of the Raptors.

"Employee: I can't see how it's possible at all"

"Fastow: It's sick"

Oct. 19 - Securities and Exchange Commission launches inquiry into Enron finances.

"Skilling: They have questions"

Oct. 24 - Fastow ousted.

"Fastow: As long as it don't make me look bad"

Dec. 2 - Enron goes bankrupt, thousands of workers laid off.

"News Report: Over twenty thousand people are reported to have lost their jobs"

2002: Jan. 9 - Justice Department confirms it has begun a criminal investigation of Enron. The company's auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP, says it has destroyed tons of Enron documents.

"Arthur Anderson: Except for the ones we SHREDDED"

Feb. 12 - Lay invokes Fifth Amendment at a Senate hearing after expressing "profound sadness" at Enron's collapse.

2006: Jul 6. Ken Lay dies.

"Lawyer: She died (wrinkly old bitch!)"

Dec. 13: Skilling begins his sentence.

"Skilling: I'm not a bad man, i'm not an unusual man, i just wanted to change the world"

I noticed that Lucy Prebble altered the sequence of events to benefit the drama of the narrative. She left out some of the big players of Enron to keep it simple and focus on the select few necessary for the story to happen. 

SCENE 8 - AN UNHOLY PARTNERSHIP

SCENE 8 

AN UNHOLY PARTNERSHIP

This scene starts with Fastow delivering a monologue from his lair, it is very similar to those that others such the analyst delivers in that it's mostly factual but in this case there is a greater showing of character. The speech takes something as seemingly boring as hedging and blows it up through Fastows investment and belief in this system giving it stakes, highs and lows as if it were something personal rather than business finance tactics.

i broke the speech into three sections 

1- Here he is trying to find a way into the topic of hedging, knowing that it's too complex for the audience but assuming that they care and are as interested in it as he is, like an excited child. 

2- Here he dives into his well planned and thought through hedging anecdote about cars and planes, once again spotlighting his child-like nature.

3- The anecdote deviates from childishness to a cold and morbid fantasization of a plane crash, especially chilling as it foreshadows 9/11 which essentially changed the audiences perception of a "plane crash"

4- He then goes back to the anecdote an explains the car rental side of the metaphor/example this section i chose to perform practically cold allowing the language to speak for itself revealing the callous capitalisation on fear, tragedy and humanity for the sake of financial gain.

5- the end section is almost floaty, he closes his eyes talking about the importance of imagination and control ending with "when i write down everything that can possibly go wrong as a formula. A formula that i control. Nothing seems scary anymore." The speech starts in a condescending teacher like manner and ends in a naive childlike way perfectly displaying the duality to this character.

Words that stand out 

Hedging

Risk

Money 

Investment

Airlines/airplane crash

Control

Lose

Imagination

Formula

The speech runs straight into the scene with Skilling walking in on him and completely throwing him off leaving him unsettles awkward and edgy, more so than he was before. 

My scene objective for Fastow is TO IMPRESS Jefferey Skilling, his first tactic is to socialise, find unity and talk about their children but he knows this isn't his strong suit and therefore swiftly changes tactic to finance and his business model.

I believe that Fastow has two modes one being social and the other being business. Fastow's social skills are so bad that he has to use business talk as crutch and this switch is seen in this scene where Skilling mentions his daughters birth and and his deal to work at Enron to which Fastow responds with "did you get a good deal?" When Fastow switches to this business mindset his vocabulary widens, his speech quickens, his sentences become well rounded, he is in his comfort zone.

Fastow says "A theoretical car company hedges your airline investment just as good as a real one does. On the books." here is the first time Fastow hints at breaking or bending rules for financial gain which is essentially the heart of the play or at least what sets the tragedy in motion.

In this scene we are also first introduced to the raptors however at this stage they are simply figments of Andys childish imagination hence them being dinosaurs however there is a twisted nature to the them representing his duality. He likens the naming of his creations to that of the film Jurassic Park, only adding to the ever expanding list of "times Fastow said/did something a child would do"