TRAVELING INTO RABBIT HOLES: MERIAH SAGE
One of my favorite directors, Ann Bogart, wrote: “What you do in rehearsal is visible in the product. The chief ingredient in rehearsal is real, personal interest. And interest is one of the few components in theatre that has absolutely nothing to do with artifice. You cannot fake interest. It must be genuine. Interest is your engine and it determines the lengths to which you will travel in the heat of engagement.”
My personal interest in this project propels me, eagerly, to rehearsal every other week. It also makes me hungry for knowledge. When I’m not at rehearsal, I spend a lot of time in my imagination and brain. I’m curious. I love to explore. I love to dig. Here are some of my favorite “rabbit hole” discoveries so far…
Our play is based on The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally. I’ve dabbled in the book, skipping around with a pretend lack of interest. I have discovered that one of my characters, Duckling, “was still known by the name she had been given in childhood by her mob, her canting crew” (p.33). Juicy stuff. Are you curious about what “cant” is? I was too. According to The Oxford Companion to the English Language, it is “the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group”. Brilliant! Connecting this back to my character, I realized being torn away from her crew must have been significant culture shock.
Outside of the book, there are a lot of other great finds. Many of our characters are based on real people that were part of the “first fleet” of convicts to Australia. You can even Google search most of white male characters (check out my character George Johnston) and some of the women. Love history? Me too. Check this out: https://www.nla.gov.au/digital-classroom/year-4/first-contacts/themes/first-fleet
My favorite discovery, though, is about the unnamed Aboriginal character. Unfortunately, the script does not center his story and leaves a lot to be explored. In his brief text, the character mentions dreams several times and I went in search to find out more. One source stated: “Dreamtime is the foundation of Aboriginal religion and culture. It dates back some 65,000 years. It is the story of events that have happened, how the universe came to be, how human beings were created and how their Creator intended for humans to function within the world as they knew it.” (https://www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/aboriginal-dreamtime/)
This is just the beginning. There is so much more to discover. And I’m grateful for the journey.