Any body for tea?
Who I played
what i learned
How i grew
In Any Body for Tea?, I played Miss Birdie, one the six sweet but balmy old ladies with an unhealthy obsession with their neighbor, a handsome homicide detective named O'Finn. In order to gain the detective's attention, the ladies turn on each other one by one to stage a homicide. In the end, only Birdie and three others are left standing. Birdie herself is bold, childish, and prone to fits of fainting (some of which conveniently end with her landing in O'Finn's arms). A survivor to the end, she is savvy when it comes to planning murders; instead of volunteering ideas or starting controversy, she simply waits for the murders to occur and then enjoys the result when O'Finn arrives. She is very materialistic and lacks empathy; when she dresses up her deceased housemate to be laid to rest, she bemoans the loss of nice clothes rather than her freshly murdered friend.
Playing Birdie taught me quite a bit about character work and how the creative process applies to actors. While it may not seem obvious at first, by the end of the play it is clearly that Birdie is, quite literally, deranged. I wanted that demented persona to feel earned, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why she was the way she was. As a result, I learned more about doing text work in this show's short rehearsal process than I have in years! Since the play leaves all six of the women with unique wants and personalities but almost no backstory, I had the opportunity to pull from inferred circumstances and make up my own backstory for Birdie, something that I rarely get to do. As both an actor and a playwright, it was fascinating to work inductively and see what may have made Birdie the way she is. By exploring what I imagined as her past, her upbringing, and her relationships, I was able to flesh Birdie out, and I learned to never underestimate the power of delving into the text and drawing your own conclusions when you need to.
Birdie was an extremely enjoyable character to play, and similarly to Dabby, she taught me quite lot about being bold. Toeing the line between sweet and overtly creepy was a fun challenge for me, and as someone who used to get nervous at the thought of performing a principle comedic role, I really appreciated the opportunity to sink my teeth into a purely comedic character. I can confidently state that now I can look at a character rife with comedic beats and examine their complexity instead of getting flustered by making sure a joke lands. I feel as though every time I take on a new role, I become a little more comfortable in my craft. Any Body for Tea? definitely embodies that feeling. Simply by trying and actively participating, comedy became less nerve-wracking for me and more fascinating and enjoyable. Being part of such a supportive cast assisted in my increased comfortability with comedy; before I knew it, my five elderly women that I was best friends with in the show became my friends and supporters in real life, too. Overall, I became much more comfortable with completely letting loose and getting into the spirit of a comedy while not forgetting my character's true intentions, and I am now no longer afraid to take risks and break rules as my character. I know that people will support me and be there to catch me when I fall (in Birdie's case, literally).