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There’s around 10 shows over 2-3 weeks.

It’s showing at the Zenith Theatre in Chatswood.

Now that I think of it, maybe the actor who played Dawson in the movie of A Few Good Men actually raised his voice to that most unpleasant timbre to become the teenage marine he was playing. 

I’ve found that while the advise holds true, it can be difficult to remember exactly at which pitch each character lives. 

I guess it depends if you’re a kinesthetic or a visual learner. If you’re the former, you’d probably find that certain movements, posture and tension would help you conjure up each character. For the visual learner however, whilst the movements and stances of the subject are vital, I find an actual picture of them is important. If like in my case, no picture or description exists, it becomes even more important to have something to visualise. Even if you have a picture, how do you relate it to the sound of their voice when it’s a subtle variation in sound?

 There have been two things I’ve discovered:

1. Typically there are entrance points of text that help you get into character. These are helpful to run through your head just prior to continuing on with new dialogue in later scenes.
2. It’s also helpful to imagine where in your mouth the person speaks from. For me, if I can isolate a certain area in the mouth that they “live” so to speak, I can slip back into them quite seemlessly.

Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson

A Few Good Men: a scene from Act II

Ignorantly, I auditioned for this role before my first show had even started. I’m now left with only two nights free from the theatre a week.

Nevertheless, a good friend of mine advised me to go for as diverse roles as possible. I think I’m on the right track.

The entire dialogue for the play came from interviews with the residents of Laramie, Wyoming following the beating and death of a local gay university student, Matthew Shepard.

This video previews the movie version, which is a good overview of the story.

Laramie will show at the Zenith in Feburary 2009.

Appearing at the Zenith Theatre in Chatswood in Feburary 2009.

Most people don’t know that the film was based on the play. The play, set in 1986, is a courtroom drama about two marines charged with killing another during a routine disciplinary exercise.

The theatre company is The Guild Theatre who’ve been doing productions in Rockdale since the 1950s.

We are doing 15 shows between Nov 9 - 29 of 2008.

My character is Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson, one of the two marines on trial.

An article for the show in the St George & Sutherand Shire Leader (Nov 13, 2008)