Welcome to Thebes

by Moira Buffini

Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, 2017

Student Reflection 1

Working within an intracultural methodology was a real eye-opener for me in terms of my training and the idea of myself on stage. The focus of the work, which is on the actors themselves and on the complicité they have with each other, resonated with everyone while working on Welcome to Thebes. We worked with our native accents, and for those who had them, native languages, despite our given text being in English. This was used to explore and play with our most natural ways of being, without self-imposed conditions.
Thus, I started working on my text in French before I could so much as learn lines in English. At the beginning, this came with the worry that I might be making steps backwards, but soon came the realisation that, in terms of acting, it was a natural step
forward. The languages we speak affect the way we move, speak, act. Thus, if I had only worked in English, I would have set aside an entire chunk of who I am as a person, and
thus as an actor. Discoveries made when applying other languages can still be kept through patience and trust in the process, when moving back to the language of the text
(English in this instance). What makes you the person you are can be applied to what you work on, you will make it your own on so many levels, and then it will truly be you who is playing on stage.