An actor’s struggle to get their career running and keep it stable. This piece shows how actors must jump through hoops to get jobs.
Rebecca Rayne clearly shows how difficult it is to make it in the world of acting. Her character ‘ACTRESS’ is performed as a busy, desperate and hardworking women who is constantly chasing her tail to keep it together and struggles with being the biggest judge of her choices and achievements. The audience can see that she is on the brink of burning out/breaking down, because the career she longs for is a journey. That for some people may be easy, others may find it long and takes a toll on their self-esteem. It also goes into how difficult it is not to compare yourself to others.
Leanne Pettit is the other actress in this piece, and she plays a range of characters in Rayne’s story. The characters played are roles in Rayne’s life she seeks validation from, love interests and casting team members. Pettit successfully performs these characters with clear variation between all of them, none of the characters she plays are anywhere near similar. She changes her voice and non-verbal mannerisms for all characters. Rayne as ACTRESS, also shows her deeper connection to these characters. She does this through levels, such as a moment the casting director asks her to get on the floor and bark like a dog or when her love interest tells her to lay on the floor as he takes drugs (not real obviously) off her chest. These moments show how her character does anything to get validation from these characters in her life.
A projector is used to bring comedy to the show. It shows how this piece is about Rayne’s mind, and these are images that jump into her head. Sometimes exposing her. There were some points where it was not needed and took clarity from the piece. Such as, when she is writing the email, the writing is moving quicker than her saying what she is going to type and the typing on the screen is out of time with her transitions between thinking and typing. The projection takes the attention of the audience from ACTRESS, in a moment that would be stronger without the projection, and give Rayne more of a chance to show her thought process and varied emotions towards trying to get this job.
One moment that I wish was consistent was the tube, as it moves, Rayne jigs and the audience members she pulls up to join her also jig. However, this was a repeated moment, and there were times the audience members jig and Rayne doesn’t. This stops you from believing she is on the tube. This moment of movement to show her on the tube could be taken further and developed as there are many stops and changes on the tube and it’s a good opportunity for more comedic moments. The audience interaction was a good tactic for keeping the audience engaged in the story. This was an interesting element.
There were parts of the piece that didn’t seem relevant. Such as the moment where she talks about her impetigo from her previous love interest. Also, leads into the other character, which is the baby she babysits ‘Casper’ the talking baby. Whilst it shows that when you’re an actor you must have another job to get you money between jobs, it was not realistic. She does not hold the doll as if it is a real baby and although it was funny the first time she throws the baby in shock of it speaking, this is a repeated moment that just does not feel relevant. Although Casper’s character is not realistic and is like her conscience, moments of realism with Casper would make the piece more unique and real.
The lack of realism disconnects you as an audience member from ACTRESS. Casper the baby goes into acting and makes ACTRESS jealous. Although all parts of the story fitted together, the transitions were smooth. It made sense as Casper was also in the acting world and gave her impetigo. I just wanted to see more of ACTRESS herself and her career journey. It did not feel like there was an arc of the story and it did not feel like the character changed or learnt anything from being challenged.
Overall, this piece was high energy, funny and visual. The transitions between scenes were smooth and the story was well thought out. It just feels like there are elements of the story that are unneeded and more of the journey of actress and more realistic elements would make this piece more relatable, not only to actors but also to a wider audience. This piece has a lot of potential and Rebecca Rayne is a colorful actress. There was great use of props and beautiful moments. Such as, the harp scene, where she plays a cardboard cutout harp to an audition panel and sparks the start of her breakdown from the frustration of things not working. Unfortunately the finale did not make sense and there is space for a more poignant and clear ending.