The Last Little Girl - Lauren Cato

So I recently embarked on one of the biggest journeys in my life, to date. A one-woman play. Forty plus pages long, thirty minutes in length, ten characters in total and two weeks’ notice to show day. ‘The Last Little Girl’ is written by Kay Adshead. My performance was to be the plays debut in the UK! (No Pressure lol). Before that it had been performed in Paris, in French, for La Compagnie Yorick by a fantastic actress called Aissatou Thiam.

Here’s a picture of my annotated script. The pink tabs indicate each scene, the blue; each character. I usually annotate with pencil for things like this, it’s easier to rub out any changes and pencil doesn't run out! I recorded myself reading the whole script and kept listening to it over and over. I even had it on repeat at night when I was sleeping.

Rehearsals at Putney Arts Theatre, trying to perfect the opening of the play. Big thanks to all staff at PAT who allowed myself and the rest of the ‘Acts of Defiance’ team to use the space.

Shameless group selfie! Pictured from left to right, Jody Jameson (actress from Happy Ending), Kay Adshead (writer of all the plays featured in ‘Acts of Defiance’), Michael Batz (director of ‘The Last Little Girl’) and next to me at the bottom, Eugenia Low (actress from ‘Three Lotus Flowers’).

This picture was taken by the assistant director, Verner Freeson at one of our several line-run rehearsals at The National Theatre in Waterloo. It’s a fantastic little place to rehearse or have meetings. They have loads of seating areas, inside and out, some soft and also some tabled areas. There’s also plug sockets if you can’t live without your phone! South Bank is just around the corner as well, also a great place. Stratford Picture House has some seating areas (probably not on a weekend as it can get really busy lol). And there’s a quirky renovated café/lounge exactly where Caribbean Scene used to be (Sorry can’t remember what it’s called).

Still from my performance at Theatre503 in Battersea.

A FEW TIPS:

-        Be honest to yourself. If you don’t understand a word or phrase (how to say it or what it means) find out! Doing this will give you a much better understanding and will allow you to communicate the story to your audience better.

-        Warm up, warm up, warm up. It really helps. I know it can seem tedious at times but it means you won’t be straining your voice or body. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, find something that works for you. Here are some ideas: Spine rolls, any sort of yoga is good, Tongue twisters, humming, shhh-ing, stretching, self-massages.

-        Read the play. Over and over. Now this seems silly to say. But again, it really helps you not only to learn it but to become more familiar with the journey of the characters. To make it easier find someone to read to or just change your location, go outside or to a cosy study space or set yourself a fun reward, if you read it through twice you can watch your favourite show or have a glass of wine!