Although the majority of the play is very abstract, I believe that Murdock is quite a naturalistic character. I think he needs to be naturalistic as he attempts to ground Faustus and make him come back to reality. I know this because Murdock says to Faustus that he is losing his humanity, and so he needs to represent the whole of humanity and he pretty much says what the audience thinks. Below are my notes on voice and movement.
VOICE: To make my character naturalistic I will use what I have learned about the practitioner Stanislavski (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/stanislavski.html). He believed that actors should not only know their lines, but know the intention behind them. Therefore, I have gone through the script and really thought about Murdock's attitudes and intentions with each line. In my very first line - "Valdes and Cornelius? What do you want with them?" - I believe Murdock is anxious. He doesn't trust Valdes and Cornelius as they are "only interested in themselves" and are not a good influence on Faustus. Therefore, I will speak with concern when delivering this line. I shall continue this tone of concern when speaking of how "I do fear for him as he reads those books". On my final line on page two, I become increasingly more annoyed as I say how he has "forgotten" when I was part of his learning. However, my anger turns to panic as I say how Valdes and Cornelius have only one fellowship. On my line "I will contact them now Faustus", I show my loyalty through sounding sincere but I shall have an undertone of concern as I only contact them reluctantly, as I don't want to see Faustus in trouble. So far, I have hidden my anger from Faustus, however, this changes on page five on the line "Yes, you are right, we are not alike". Prior to this outburst, I only show my deepest concern for Faustus and this then causes my outburst as he ignores my warnings and denies our friendship. I try to make the audience sympathise with my character but trying to show genuine concern in my voice (by having an element of fear in my voice by having a fairly shaky quality of voice and by being quite breathless), this is so they still agree with my character and understand my character when he has his outburst at Faustus. During this outburst I raise my voice, speak slightly quicker and emphasise the consonant to sound my aggressive. This is exactly the same on my final appearance on page 21 when I leave Faustus for good. However, on the first line of this page, I try to keep my cool as to not make a scene and to see if things have changed. When I realise that things are still exactly the same as how they were before, I have another outburst. I think that by looking for deeper meanings in the text and studying my characters intentions has really helped as I understand my character better and can play my character more realistically - this is why I decided to use Stanislavski's methods.
MOVEMENT: I have decided to use the Laban Movement Analysis method (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/rudolf-von-laban.html) to create my body language and embodiment of my character of Murdock. The two emotions my character mainly feels are anger and concern. When angry I shall be quite heavy with my movements to emphasise power and aggression. I will be mainly direct as to get my point across but slightly indirect to show frustration and to make me unpredictable. This will show that my character tries to stay calm but will stand up for themselves when he needs to. I will also be mainly sudden to show that I am unpredictable and am at boiling point - I will use sharp and sudden arm movements. When angry, my movements will mainly lead from my chest to be more authoritative. Contrastingly, when I am concerned I will lead from my hands in front of me and by my forehead - this will be to show that I do not want to anger Faustus but am deeply serious about what I have to say. Also, I shall use less space when I am angry than when I am concerned, as when I am angry I shall stand my ground more (whilst when I am concerned, I may pace up and down a little bit - this will also ensure I use the traverse space and everyone can see). Moreover, I shall be very light with my movements when concerned, as to move faster and to appear like I am on-edge. I shall be slightly indirect to show that I am panicking and am anxious about what is about to happen. Finally, I shall be fairly sustained to show that I am constantly thinking, though will have moments of being sudden as to create a contrast and to be unpredictable to match my confused mind. I think that by answering these movement questions, I have understood my character better as I have created his body language.
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