An exemplar essay on the character Martha from Polly Stenham's That Face. Based upon the question "As a performer outline how you would use body language to create an impact on the audience in the portrayal of Martha in this extract", this essay focuses on the character's physicality in Scene 6.
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As a performer outline how you would use body language to create an impact on the
audience in the portrayal of Martha in this extract.
Polly Stenham's play “That Face” (first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London in 2007)
highlights themes such as money, power and dysfunctional families. Scene 2 especially shows the
dynamic between the highly dysfunctional family within the play as Martha (the mother) is seen to
have some sort of incestuous relationship with her son Henry. This is shocking to the audience as
they have just seen the two in bed together. Tensions rise as the two eventually clash.
As a performer, I would use body language to create an impact on the audience in the portrayal
of Martha in this extract. I would want to portray Martha as flirtatious and confused. I would do
this by moving in closer to the actor playing Henry with intense eye contact with doe eyes and a
pouty facial expression. The use of close proxemics shows the audience that Martha does not
care about Henry's personal space and clearly communicates the themes of blurred lines and
dysfunctional families. In this moment she is trying to manipulate him into doing what she
wants, by pouting as an actor it conveys the message that Martha adopts child like mannerisms
showing her immaturity. The fact that I would not break eye contact shows that Martha will not
stop pestering Henry until he does what she wishes (revealing her devious side) , and the use of
doe eyes show that she is trying to play naive and innocent when in reality she is not. In a way
this is her diverting from what she's done and refusing to take accountability for her actions
(something that in common within Martha's behaviour). This clearly creates an impact on the
audience as it is quite shocking to the audience that a mother would act this way towards her
son. The audience can clearly see Martha's deceptive behaviour and this is sets a tense
atmosphere in the audience. Due to the actor’s direct and intense focus on Henry, the audience
can deduct that Martha is almost reliant on him as she begs him to forgive her. This makes it clear to
any audience that this is not a normal mother-son relationship therefore creating a long lasting
impact on the audience.
If I was portraying the character of Martha, I would not only portray her as flirtatious towards
Henry but as confused. I would express Martha’s confusion through raised brows, close
proxemics and gestures. The night before Martha was in a drunken state so as an actor I would
want to relay to the audience that Martha's unable to recall her actions but this is an act. This
may be left up to interpretation by the audience as they may think that Martha is dodging
Henry’s accusations and playing dumb or she truly does not remember. I think that in this scene
Martha would act dumb and act as if she does not remember, so in order to portray this I would
raise my eyebrows but very exaggeratedly to show that she is disapproving of what Henry is
accusing her of but also that she is “trying” hard to think of what she did. As I lift my brows, I’d
reach out to the actor playing Henry and get closer to him showing that while Henry is rejecting
Martha, she is trying to appear that she is trying to understand what he is saying but he is
distancing himself from her. While he is rejecting her, she is trying to “fix her mistakes” but is
actually making things worse. The close proxemics that I would use would also give the audience
the impression that Martha is very dependent on Henry, needing to constantly be close to him.
Finally, as an actor I would create impact on the audience by using facial expressions and
gestures to portray Martha as defensive. As a performer I would present Martha as having
constant mood changes to show that she is erratic. When Henry accuses Martha of always
behaving like this the morning after she drinks, I would cross my arms to show that she feels
under attack by these accusations. This would create an intense atmosphere, making it possibly
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