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THAT FACE MARTHA - Coggle Diagram

- - - - i would use levels during the interaction between henry and myself. when i sit next to henry i will be on top of pillows so that i am slightly raised in comparison to henry sleeping who is more vulnerable, lying flat. i would also roughly take a pillow from under his head to show immediately who controls this relationship. this would juxtapose the 'gentle' stroking of Henry's hair as he sleeps conveying to audience immediately Marth's erratic, unstable nature in addition to the unusual relationship with her son that at the start without knowing the characters, could be misconstrude to be a woman and her lover.
        
        this use of performance skills emphasises the unoredictable nature of Martha and the strange behaviour in the first scene we see of the two characters. to the audience, the relationship of Martha and Henry emphasised when Martha shreds Henry's clothes in scene 4 and gives him a love bite. through these actions it furthers conveys not only Martha's obession of Henry but also the control and possesion over henry as after all these thing she does to him he still forgives her, as they are both dependent on each other, martha more dependent of henry however still dependent
  - - - wider play - this use of performance skills enhances the need for the bed and how comfortable she is in this room with Henry. later in scene 2 when Mia arrives you can see how Martha clearly doesnt want her here "she's not staying" conveying further her obbession with henry and how only Martha and Henry are wlecome in the flat as that is the only person she feels comfortable with, so she can have him all to herself
  - - - this scene and use of physicality allows the audience to see how manipulative Martha is towards Henry and how over and over again, after everything she does wrong she knows that he will forgive her. shown in scene 8 when Henry says 'i thought i could fix her. thought i'd do anything to fix her' showing that Henry can never give up on her and has this need to make Martha stable again
  - - - this would be shown at the end of the play saying 'but i have to go now. i have to go away' would be only only time she wouldn't bite her nails or tuch her hair behind her ears as she knew how bad she has become in her moment of lucidity in addition to knowing that there is no other way out
- - - - for the first line i would change my voice to have a seductive tone, and a lower pitch at the word 'sorry' to express her regret and her embarrasment of 'last night' and i would add a nasal quality to show to the audience how they have both been sleeping in the same bed together
        
        this is the audiences first interaction with martha and with the set up of the scene and words used in the type of tone express it is clear that the audience could mistake their relationship as a woman and a lover rather than a mother and a son. Martha acts in this scene in a very sexual manner with Henry and he, when woken up even finds it uncomfortable
        
        wider play - this unusual relationship is consistent throughout the whole play such as on page 49 as she 'buries her head in his chest and after leaving his chest 'there is now another love bite' showing the audience the lack of her maternal capacity by the majority of the play involves her being spoilt, childish, immature and spiteful.
    - - I would change my voice to a near sarcastically high pitch, to show her desperation her pitch is a child-like voice to express to the audience how, even though Martha is Henry’s mother, how the roles have been switched in this mother-son relationship as he is having to look after her.
        
        wider play - as Martha acts like a child she treats henry like a toy, shown by the repetitive use of the word 'soldier' like a doll, and how she cannot share him, which is shown by her having a tantrum and ruining his clothes when henry leaves the house for a night on page 46 how 'revealed are a pile of his clothes, all cut up into teeny tiny strips.' her obbessiveness with him is shown by putting her own mark on him, like a child with their favourite toy.
    - - I would emphasize the word 'handsome' and smile when saying it, however not in a maternal way in a perverse. I would as the word soldier is used, I as the role of Martha would add the first few times saying this word a posh victorian British accent and laugh after saying it to convey that this descriptor is a kind of an inside joke between her and henry. however, towards the end of the play, i would drop the accent to express how her mental health starts to deteriorate she starts to believe this fantasy
        
        wider play - as this 'joke' seen by the audience starts to become out of hand, shown by Henry eventually playing along with this role given to him by saluting her on pg 62. this fantasy starts to spiral by in scene 8 she has dressed him up 'war spoils for my soldier. he glitters. look how he glitters.' it conveys how her fantasy of him starts to overtake her reality similar to how her additction and mental health problems are overtaking and controlling her life.
    - - "my baby boy, my baby boy (gasps) scaring me. (henry gets up. exits. when he is gone he hyperventilation calms noticeably. when he re-enters it increases in volume and speed)"
        
        i would as the role of martha, i would use staccato speech to clearly show the exaggerated 'episode' martha is having. i would have my articulation would have less clarity to show how she is 'struggling' with speaking infront of Henry. i would, as the stage directions stated, have overly dramatic and loud audible breathing, hoping for henry to have a sense of panic for me. when leaving the room i would have still have over dramatic breath, however not as quick and loud and have a emotionless expression when henry is not there.
        
        using vocal skills this can shows as well as Martha treating henry like a lover she also reverts to behaving like a child infront of him. this specific moment as the audience you can through vocal skills further see the lengths Martha will go to get Henry's attention and full focus, like in scene four when Martha cuts u all of Henry's clothes from leaving her or at the end of scene seven when she tries to trick Henry into thinking she ate cat food. it is clear tha she craves attention from him through her childish acts throughout the entirity of the play showing her lack of growth even after all the promises she made to Henry to be better.
    - - in the role of Martha I would sit up in the bed, looking down at Henry, who could be in a foetus position to show how he is a child who needs his mother; so as before we just saw that Martha was very dependent on Henry, we see how in fact, the relationship is co-dependent the do need each other in different ways. In this part, even though I do not have much to say, when I nod after Henry says ‘Are you, my Mummy?’ I would use a softer, forgiving tone and a lower volume to show how Martha sometimes has moments of lucidity and has motherly attributes. I would have a falling intonation to give a caring and gentle side to Martha as she can express to the audience the co-dependency of the relationship. I would also stroke Henry’s hair in a gentle, caring way in contrast to at the start of the scene that was sexually just to express how quickly the roles reverse in this relationship and to show her maternal characteristics also.
        
        using these vocal skills can show the true and 'normal' relationship between a mother and son and Martha's moments of lucidity such as in scene 4 when she says "don't get cheeky. I'm your mother. not one of your mates" however these examples directly contrast to when before she was touching in a "peverse" way and after the moment in scene 4 she gives him a love bite, further emphasising her sporadic nature due to her mental health issues