In Praise of Emily Graham

Cai Thompson DP - Emily Graham as Ariel

I'd seen Emily Graham in a few college productions, where she'd played mainly
supporting roles.  I hadn't really noticed her very much.  Then I saw her in
Merlin Youth Theatre's "Macbeth" in Summer 2010.  Again, she played in supporting
roles, but one image stuck in my mind...she was leaning up against the proscenium
arch and achieved this incredible presence on stage. She became an image.
(To be honest, I'd gone to see the production as I'd designed the set, and spent half
of the time checking out my own work as I hadn't seen it until the performance -
like Jordanna Moran's work in this production, it made me quickly forget about
the set!).

When it came to casting the role of Ariel for "I've Seen Angels", my pre-visualisation
was of someone smaller, weaker and blonde!  Emily is tall, she has a very strong,
resilient quality as a person, and she's brunette.  However, I believe directors should
always keep a very open mind when casting, and workshop and audition scenes and ideas
and then decide on the roles.  I'd written the roles of Michael and Rebecca for Sam Ward
and Jordanna Moran respectively, but the 'mystery' was Ariel.  I think directors also
need to trust their intuition as well as watch the actors and concentrate during
auditions - and not get beguiled or distracted by anything or anyone.
It was during the auditions that I got this insight into Emily's potential to play
the role of Ariel - she had this wonderful sense of an inner resiliance and strength,
my intuition is working overtime now - her vocal work was excellent, as was her
listening and concentration.  The weekend after auditions my perspective on the
character, image and spine of the character of Ariel changed because of Emily.  She
also has this desire that good actors have - a real need to perform - like a
racehorse, Emily is, as the Irish punter's phrase goes, "...mad for the road..." 
And then she dyed her hair blonde.

You don't really 'know' any of this until you start to work, rehearse and shoot.
It was clear to me from the first few days that Emily had maybe never had this
opportunity to work in a lead before (I'm curious about this and want to find out).
Could she not so much carry the film, but be the moral spine and centre of it? 
Could she generate the essential empathy with the audience which is so vital to
make the story function?
Now, in retrospect I know the answer and its a large affirmative.  It just goes
to show that all these creative decisions hang on a knife edge, that huge leaps
of faith and absurdity are involved.  What clearly emerged for me was the growing
intuition and understanding that Emily developed for Ariel.  Underneath all this
is a very sound set of acting techniques, but I wanted my young cast to transcend
this and understand the themes I'm dealing with in the writing.  Ariel's character
arc is quite complex...she is humilated, she loses herself and her life, she
discovers a forgiving and compassionate nature in herself, and she becomes a mother
whilst relinquishing her love for Michael.  What Emily developed as an actress was
a tangible tenderness and precision, alongside a real insight into her character.
The original script was timed at 10 minutes - the edit as it stands is nearly 30.
If the film works (for me it does but I can never really be it's audience), then a
great deal of it is down to Emily's performance.  Again, there's a mystery in all of
this - how does Emily attain this state of grace?  Is it just her...is it the words
she speaks, the gestures she makes, the images she forges, the sound, the music, the
light?  I don't know...I love the doubt.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu used to be a primary schoolteacher in South African, in the
townships.  He described teaching these young children as "...like watching flowers
blossom...".  Watching Emily work on "I've Seen Angels" has left me with the same
feeling.