Come into the Garden, Maud by Noel Coward

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Norwich Theatre: Great Hall Theatre Company, The Assembly House, Norwich

30 January – 3 February 2018

Marie Cooper played Anna-Mary Conklin, in ‘Come into the Garden, Maud’. One of two short plays by Noel Coward, performed together, by The Great Hall Theatre Company.

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First time in The Round

Come into the Garden, Maud was performed ‘in the round’, with an audience on all four sides. I hadn’t performed in that configuration before. It was a challenging but fun, exploring the space and being open to the audience on all four sides.

I didn’t originally audition for the role of Anna-Mary. I was a little surprised, but very happy to be offered her. She is quite an unpleasant, dominating character, whose attitude to her friends could spin on a dime.

Accents

I had to learn more lines than I’ve ever needed to before. My character was American, so, I had to learn lines in an American accent for the first time. I also had to learn some badly pronounced French, in an American accent. I got some laughs at my attempts at French. Hopefully the audience thought I was acting and didn’t realise my French actually is that bad.

I wrote a little more about Anna-Mary, accidentally breaking the fourth wall and some of the feedback over on my blog

The Cast for Come into the Garden Maud

All photographs for Come into the Garden, Maud were taken during the dress rehearsal by Andrew Cliffe of Norwich Photo Motorsport Photography

Come into the Garden, Maud Gallery