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It’s been an incredible journey I
must say. The whole process of it all, acting, observing, monitoring my
internal and external surroundings, emotions, characterization, redefining
Daisy Buchanan, putting up with dramas in real life etc.
At first I auditioned as Myrtle,
thinking it’s easier acting as her than Daisy. I did give my consideration on
auditioning as Jordan but no, Jordan is way up there. She’s a whole other level
for me. Hehe. So I still remember last semester talking to Azze, Assistant
Director 1 who happened to be a dear friend of mine. We talked on how stoked we
are to do The Great Gatsby together. Thank God I was chosen. It was unexpected
when they announced me as Daisy Buchanan at the first meeting. I’m very lucky
to have Enbah sitting next to me during the meeting because if she’s not, I
would faint right away. It’s a huge deal for me because deep down, I knew I
love acting for quite some time but due to some reasons, I had to back down and
idled the passion. Getting the main character, the heroine, was mind-blowing at
that point. After that, all I could think was I needed to do research on her
because I wasn’t mentally prepared to be her.
Let me start
with the acting process. A while ago, somebody with ample experiences in
theatre and acting once told me, “as an actor, you have to be strong. At one
point in this field, you would experience mixed emotions, because you’re
bringing a character, whether it is different from your own or not.” True indeed.
I began my journey as I did my research, watched the movie over and over again,
studied Carey Mulligan’s portrayal of Daisy up to spending quite moments with
Sarah, our stage manager and also Azze, assistant director 1. They helped me a
lot in reshaping my character, handing me more than enough input into my deviation
of Daisy.
Each night I would spent at least
a few minutes in front of the mirror with facial expression, attitudes,
correcting my accent and tone, adjusting my gestures and body language to perfecting
the way I walk, talk, think and basically everything. I must admit it was tough
in the first few weeks of practices. I can’t exactly remember why but I think
mostly it’s because I was still depending on the movie’s portrayal and that I
didn’t really understand Daisy’s choices in the story. I kept asking around,
especially to Enbah, of why must Daisy do this and that? What is wrong with
her? Haha. I was very skeptic upon her character. Anyway, all of them in the production
somehow convinced me that I can do it well as they said they saw my potential
as their Daisy Buchanan. And for that, I’m thankful enough to have such
incredible and down-to-earth family in the production.
Weeks passed
by, my commitment with the production and play was something I’d say I gave my
all in this entire semester. The amount of energy spent was however, worth it. Quietly
though I observed the staging teams, the props, overall on the management of
the whole production itself, hoping one day when we (my classmates and I) are
to face the same subject under Dr. Abby, with these experiences will help us
enough to get through it all.
As much
as I’d like to express and share everything here, I think it’s best to keep the
best part to myself. I believe as time goes, I will share a bit here and there
to my friends and to those who care enough to listen and gain something out of
my experience. All I can say is, being in this kind of production requires you
to toughen up, committed because YOU signed up for it, face the challenge with
dignity, be patience because the outcome is beautiful, and lift up the spirit
every day.
Love,
Fatin.
