Tallon Boling

Acting I: Fundamentals of Acting: 9364

10-2-2018

The Heiress

Manipulation. Love. Validation. These broad themes are explored in the popular play The

Heiress. The main character Catherine, the heiress, must face many challenges and must be

portrayed by a talented actress for the audience to receive the intended themes of the show. The

actress portraying Catherine will be critiqued by asking; whether the character was believable,

the character’s overall objective, the effect of the character’s motives, obstacles the character

faced, the tactics the character used to achieve her goal, the use of beat changes, and externals

used by the actress to portray the character.

First, the actress playing Catherine will be analyzed by discussing if the character was

believable. To begin, the actress had obviously made emotional connections to the part because

of the organic emotions expressed by her character. Nothing was forced or overplayed, and this

made the character very believable. Next. The character’s connections with the rest of the cast

were very believable. The way that she connects with her father and aunt made Catherine really

come to life. For example, she stated that she was uncomfortable around her father, when her

father walked in she started acting very different and was more reserved. Finally, the character

was believable because of her mannerisms and how she spoke. Catherine grew up wealthy and

inherited a large amount from her mother, therefore, she would be very poise and proper. There

wasn’t a moment that the actress broke this persona unless instructed to by stage directions.

Also, the way that Catherine spoke made her character believable because she sounded educated
and proper, two characteristics only common among wealthy people during this timeframe.

These reasons explain why the character was very well acted and believable.

Next, Catherine will be analyzed by the character’s overall objective, the effect of her

motives, and obstacles the character faced. Catherine had many objectives in the show. The one

that stood out, however, was finding herself. Catherine struggled with talking to men, being a

klutz of a sort, and gaining respect from her father. Each of these, in their own way, were used to

motivate Catherine. One specific thing that motivated Catherine was the way she longed to find

love and acceptance for her “bland” personality. An effect of this motive in the storyline is the

way that she purposefully went against her father to prove that she wasn’t dull. This also allowed

her to easily get manipulated by Morris. It wasn’t till the end of the show that she finally found

herself and self-respect, which caused her to end ties with the wealth seeking Morris. As one

could see, Catherine had many motives to find herself. In finding herself, Catherine faced many

obstacles. One of these obstacles was to face her father and have him see her in a way other than

a shadow of her late mother. The constant comparisons and expectations her father placed onto

Catherine forced her into a box that was nearly unescapable. Another obstacle Catherine had to

face was coming to terms with the fact that Morris only loved her for her money. This caused a

lot of depression within Catherine because she was convinced that Morris’ wants were strictly a

fault of hers. She finally overcame this by locking Morris out when he came back to her, for she

has too much newly found pride to buy his love. All these events were used to amplify

Catherine’s main goal of finding herself.

Finally, Catherine will be analyzed by the actress’ use of tactics, beat changes, and

externals. First, the character, Catherine, used many tactics to reach her objective. One tactic that

Catherine used was begging her father to accept Morris as her lover and to support their
marriage. Another tactic that Catherine used was challenging. She used this tactic on both her

aunt and her father when she was proving that she wasn’t dull by forcing Morris to go away with

her in the middle of the night. Next, Catherine had many beat changes in the show. One of these

beat changes includes the change from notifying her father about her engagement with Morris to

pleading her father for his approval of the engagement. Another beat change and the most

notable of the show is at the very end when Catherine charms Morris to make him believe she

forgave him and then rejecting him when he came back from packing his things. Finally, the

actress uses many externals to make her character come to life. An external that was used to

portray the character was the use of the framed picture of Catherine’s mother. Catherine

accidentally knocked it over when with a group of people and this action portrayed her social

anxiety. Another external used was the costuming of Catherine. Catherine is an heiress;

therefore, she needs to dress as one. Each costume sold this idea because each gown she wore

looked very expensive and beautiful. The last example of an external used to portray Catherine

was her posture. Catherine was always had great posture, and this made her always appear to be

uptight. She only broke her posture when she realized Morris left her, this made a huge statement

about their relationship. As one could see, the use of tactics, beat changes, and externals are very

important to the character, Catherine.

In conclusion, the actress playing Catherine made a very believable character. She used

many complex skills and tactics to portray the main objective of finding oneself apparent to the

audience. This made for a great, easily followed, and very genuine performance.