TASK FOUR: Character Study- WOZ

   For our production of ‘The Wizard Of Oz’, I will be portraying The Wicked Witch of The West, the antagonist of the show. 

  The Wicked of The West is a prevalent character throughout the show, acting as an obstacle to Dorothy safely reaching Oz, and- consequently- returning home to Kansas. Her motivations are made very apparent from her very entrance; with the passing of her late sister (The Wicked Witch of The East), she passes her blame for her untimely passing onto Dorothy- as it was her house that crushed her and led to her death. In addition to this, there is an underlying jealously toward Dorothy as she possesses her late sisters infamous ruby slippers. As a result of this, her attitude whilst on stage is overwhelmingly negative- usually acting in a sense of spite and pettiness towards the main quartet, in an attempt to drive towards her goal of getting revenge on Dorothy and retrieving her deceased sisters shoes. Despite these almost childish iterations of anger, I included another layer which shows a more intimidating demeanour, not only to immerse the audience further within the universe (since my character is seen as a serious threat to those living within the land of Oz), but also to add a slight touch of realism to the character: although a pantomime interpretation could have potentially fit into this version of the show at a surface level, I believe that the addition of these subtle hints of genuine anger and cracks within her flamboyant persona can make her ever so more intimidating to the audiences- by showing her with a sense of humanity through her emotions, I hope to make my portrayal of this iconic character more three-dimensional, and really bring this character alive in my own way.

  Despite this interpretation being my own, I still pulled inspiration from different versions of The Wicked Witch of The West; one of these being from the Broadway show 'Wicked'. Although 'Wicked' does not show the story of 'The Wizard of Oz', and rather presents an origin story for the witches, I still found myself referencing this interpretation of Elphaba, especially for the scene in which I enter, after The Wicked With of The East's death. Wicked does an amazing job at showing the relationship and chemistry between the two sisters, an aspect which the play does not have time to explore; it makes my characters reaction to her sister's death seem more impactful and, in turn, more realistic. This aspect of her character is significant as it is the first lines of dialogue spoken in the play by The Wicked Witch of The West: "Who killed my sister? Who killed my sister?!". For this line in particular, I focused on the vocal performance to portray my emotions, since the positioning during this line was on a elevated platform upstage right- I shifted tonality throughout the repetition of the line. To begin, I began with a softer, almost breaking voice- I made sure that this entire scene in particular was one of the only scenes in which you could see her as emotionally vulnerable and almost powerless, not only to emphasise the realism, but to also create an almost cyclical structure for her character emotionally, with her final scene (when she is murdered) fully showing her vulnerable side- literally and metaphorically. Despite this, I decided not to make this the primary motivation behind delivering that line; the reaction of the munchkins almost forcibly shaped this line back towards my character being more intimidating rather than grief filled, although I attempted to portray my character's shift through the five stages of grief within the scene in some capacity- with the second repetition of the line showing the second stage- anger. I did this by increasing the bass and volume in my voice to make it carry, ingraining fear into the characters in the scene and- hopefully- in the audience. I believe this quick switch of emotions showcases the Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle, and will increase the realism of my performance- while still keeping my interpretation from becoming too dark and sinister, and maintaining the overall light-hearted atmosphere within the show. In addition to this, as the scene progresses (and my character interacts with other characters, such as Dorothy and The Good Witch of The North), I began to incorporate a more theatrical twist on the Witch; her definite snide remarks towards Toto, in order to instil fear into Dorothy, along with her threats towards Dorothy and to the people of Munchkinland. This is in order to not only shift the show's atmosphere into a familiar territory, with the more classic representation of the Witch (snarling and cackling throughout her speech)- in addition to showing the control my character has within the show; I believe within the show, only the Witch can immediately shift the tone of a scene to more threatening for the main cast, along with the Wizard- my performance adapting to change the atmosphere to be more comfortable is how I highlight this point. 

 In particular, the Witches' cackle is a staple within my performance- it acts as a signal to my arrival and exits  onstage, which continues to demonstrate the control my characters outer presence has on the overall atmosphere of the scenes which I am present. It enhances the childish anger and snide nature of the Witch, while showing the power she has, or rather believes she has; this aspect of the character was the most challenging to master in my opinion. In the beginning of Act 2, my character's motivations and goals have shifted from my first appearance in Act 1- at this point in the play, she has succeeded in capturing Dorothy, Toto and the Cowardly Lion, her three biggest targets to maintain and increase her power. Her new goal is to hope to take advantage of Dorothy and the Lion and work them to a breaking point, or- to an extreme- death. In turn, this warranted a shift in the way I portrayed the Witch- not only to adjust to these shifts in goals, but to also make her reactions to her downfall significantly raw. I enhanced the childishness of her character, and made her interactions with the other characters far more driven through mockery rather than spite; she constantly makes threats to the characters which she never pursues full heartedly, as she already knows that her true desires are already fulfilled- which gives her a much more cocky inner presence rather than menacing for brief moments- which is ultimately her Achilles' Heel as she lets her guard down and allows her weakness to be revealed- her fear of water. Within the line "Although I never take a bath myself- I hate water."- which is the grand reveal of her greatest weakness. For this specific line, I break the fourth wall and speak out to the audience downstage centre, as if to confide in them, foreshadowing a crucial turning point, not only in the show, but also for the character- this turning point being her downfall.

  This vulnerability from the beginning of the play reappears as Dorothy exploits the Wicked Witch's weakness- this is only part in the play where my character doesn't have any power and fully shows fear- I highly played on this contrast by causing my voice to constantly break and become far more whiny, gradually building up as my character is eventually cornered and murdered. Despite knowing the audience are familiar with the fact my character dies, I still wanted to instil a sense of shock, and even a sense of pity into the audience; showing such a range of raw emotions in such a short scene shows the humane layer I gave to my character. I did this not only to push the scene further and make it more immersive, yet I also performed it this to give my character a cyclical structure to her timeline onstage, and truly show how far she has fallen in the name of evil.

  I also believe the outer presence of this character also strengthened my portrayal, while almost shaping it with the direction the makeup and costume organizers went with the aesthetics. My visible skin was painted a metallic green, with exaggerated theatre makeup; harsh contour and heightened eye makeup being the two most outstanding features. This gave my character an immediate impression of fierceness and intimidating, which helped me solidify my presence around other characters, such as Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion. Not only did the makeup help me shift into the mindset of the Wicked Wictch, but the costume did also- specifically the long skirt in which I was given. Despite the costume piece causing me numerous issues while rehearsing (such as walking up and down the heightened staging, such as the stairs, and crawling offstage after my death sequence), the solutions to these problems incidentally pulled my performance upwards. In order to counter the length of the skirt, I had to hold a side of it slightly upwards at all times-, therefore my feet would always have a clear path to go to without the anxiety of trampling, tripping over, and ultimately ripping the cloth; this gave my character a much more graceful yet powerful look, since I adjusted, I started to incorporate a natural stride which made my stage presence grow. In addition to this, I was also given the skeleton of a rat on a large painted stick to act as my broomstick, which led to me tying in some dynamics between me and the inanimate rat- for example, in the line "You flea bitten fuzzy-wuzz!", I gestured after to my rat, which I kissed after stating that the insult wasn't towards them; this implemented a natural break in the tension of the scene which not only engaged the audience through comedy, but also shows that my character does have 'weakness' such as compassion, which, again, I used to foreshadow her downfall later on.