001. Introducing Magda

Magda! What to say about Magda? She was my first student. Young woman of 30. Works out of London. Loves acting. Mine is not the only class she takes. She spends as much time and money as she has available on classes at The City Lit and Pineapple Dance Studios. She's come to me for help with text work, specifically sight reading. There's just one problem. She has the thickest Hungarian accent I've ever heard in my life! The difficulty to be addressed here is not the accent per se. It's the fact that it's so heavy and pronounced that there's a loss of clarity. Add to that the speed at which she speaks and I've got my work cut out for me!

And yet, if that was the only issue I'd be relatively content. The fact is, however, that Magda finds it almost impossible to discover the freedom within herself to let herself go and simply perform. She's incredibly tight inside as if to give way even for a second would be to risk revealing more vulnerability than she could bear. Every piece of text that I give her she does in the same way, - exactly the same, - whether happy, sad, angry, anxious. All are presented in a monotonous, thick Hungarian accent. A woman is angry because she's had her baby taken away from her. Monotonous, thick Hungarian accent. A woman is distraught because she's driven into and killed a deer. Monotonous, thick Hungarian accent. A woman is overjoyed because she's heard that the man she loves reciprocates her feelings. Monotonous, thick Hungarian accent. Surely it's not in the Hungarian national character to sound so monotonous. Is it? No, I'm convinced not. This, surely, is something personal to Magda.

The problem is, - what to do about it?

I've given her a speech from The Lament for Arthur Cleary by Dermot Bolger
Role: Kathy (18yo)
(Though Magda is clearly too old for this particular role, it should make relatively few emotional demands upon her whilst still prompting her to express feeling in more subtle ways).