Of The Great Gatsby

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.