Give_Advice_to_the_Actor_Playing_Mrs_Johnstone_About_How_She_Should_Present_the_Character_to_an_Audience.

Give advice to the actor playing Mrs Johnstone about how she should present the character to an audience. Mrs Johnstone is a character who goes through many different emotions throughout the play. She has lots of ‘ups and downs’ and so the actress would need to present the character to the audience in a variety of ways at different points in the play. Early in the play, Mrs Johnstone has discovered that she is carrying twins and is concerned that the ‘welfare’ will take them away. She confides in Mrs Lyons that she cannot afford to keep them and Mrs Lyons manipulates the situation showing in this scene the uneven power balance between the two women. At the beginning of the scene Mrs Johnstone is confused and panicked. As the scene progresses she is in disbelief at Mrs Lyons initial suggestion but then during ‘My Child’ she becomes caught up in the idea of a better life for one of her children and becomes excited although still sad. When she is confused the actor should seem to be in a daze as she has been shocked by the news of twins. The actor might give a pretend smile as Mrs Lyons approaches as the character is well used to putting on a brave face of things. Her voice should be low and shaky as she shares her news with Mrs Lyons, almost as though she is thinking aloud, particularly when she says ‘with one more baby we could’ve managed but not with two.’ Here she should stare into space like she doesn’t know what to do. The audience needs to see that she isn’t thinking straight and feel sorry for her predicament. To show this physically, the actor should wring her hands together, maybe hug herself and stroke her arms and at certain points put her head in her hands so that the audience can see her despair and vulnerability. Such gesticulation from Mrs Johnstone’s character would make Mrs Lyons’ actions seem all the more manipulative and predatory and the audience will then surely sympathise and empathise with her plight which I think is what Russell wants. In the prologue, the narrator invites us to ‘judge’ Mrs Johnstone so the actor playing her needs to draw the audience in to be on her side. Her body language and movement around the stage needs to be subtle. Her movements like her speech should be slow and she might pace the floor slowly and even go through the motions of cleaning with a duster or sweeping brush without actually making any headway to portray how distracted she is. When Mrs Lyons proposes to take a child, the actor playing Mrs Johnstone should show her disbelief by raising her hand to her mouth and shaking her head as she says ‘Mrs Lyons, you can’t be serious!’ As the song ‘My Child’ picks up she should take Mrs Lyons’ lead as though swept up in the idea of a better life for one of her children and follow Mrs Lyons about the stage. Her facial expression should be relaxed now and for a short time she should look hopeful and animated. The audience should feel then that Mrs Johnstone’s intentions are good and honourable. In the scene with Edward and the locket, we see the typical maternal instinct of Mrs Johnstone being played out with the child she gave up. In the earlier scene, Mrs Johnstone goes through a rollercoaster of feelings and so different acting directions are required. This scene is more sedate and tender and so the acting would be more subtle and still. Initially Mrs Johnstone, should speak sternly to Edward ‘I thought I told you never to come here again’ – although the actress needs to show us that this is merely a pretence; of course she is happy to see him, she is just wary of the bargain she made with Mrs Lyons and the threat of the boys dying should she reveal the truth. To show this, her voice should be quite kindly not raised and she should make a dramatic pretence of mock annoyance by placing her hands on her hips. She should stop this quite suddenly to show that it was a bit of an act when Edward gets upset. The audience needs to see that Mrs Johnstone is at conflict with herself – still trying to do the right thing in an impossible situation. The audience should be feeling sad that she can’t reveal who she is and we should be happy that she is able to be tactile with her son and has managed to forge a lasting bond with the locket. When she speaks to Edward she should do so reassuringly. She should put her head to one side as though listening intently and she should smile encouragingly and sympathetically. The audience needs to feel that her concern is genuine so the actor should be affectionate toward him and soothe him as a mother would. Perhaps by sitting beside him, stroking his face or arms - even hugging him closely. It would be a natural thing for Mrs Johnstone to do to any upset child as she is predominantly featured as a mother in this play and the rest of her character (as a woman) is largely unexplored. The actor should hold him for a few seconds longer than necessary and her voice at the end could be choked to show that she is struggling to control her emotions.