The Examiner's Focus: It is NOT an English Exam!
Do not just analyze what the words mean. Examiners want to know how the actor says them! Every time you drop a quote in your exam, you must immediately attach a vocal skill (pitch, pace, tone, volume) and a physical skill (posture, gesture, facial expression) to prove you are thinking like a director or actor.
The Officials / Doctors
She is a severely sub-normal, psychopathic, schizophrenic, hyperkinetic child.
🎬 Performance Strategy:
Deliver this as a rapid, monotone list, barely taking a breath. The actor should stand entirely rigid, avoiding eye contact with the parents. This perfectly demonstrates the unfeeling, bureaucratic nature of the 1970s medical system.
The Hospital Staff
We have no facilities for this kind of patient. We simply cannot cope.
🎬 Performance Strategy:
Use a cold, dismissive tone and a sharp, defensive hand gesture (palms facing out). This physicalizes the system constantly "pushing Verity away" and refusing to take responsibility for her complex needs.
Jean (Mother)
Sometimes I wish she was dead. I wish she’d never been born.
🎬 Performance Strategy:
This shouldn't be shouted in anger, but delivered in a broken, exhausted whisper (low volume, breathless tone). Her posture should be entirely slumped, burying her face in her hands to show the crushing weight of maternal guilt and absolute despair.
Edward (Father)
We must try to be logical, Jean. We have to look at the facts.
🎬 Performance Strategy:
Use a clipped, forced, middle-class accent. He is using logic as a shield against his own trauma. Physically, he should adjust his tie or smooth his hair—a nervous tic showing his desperate attempt to maintain order in a chaotic situation.
Mark (Brother)
Why doesn't she ever get invited to any parties? Why do people stare?
🎬 Performance Strategy:
Use a high pitch and a whiny, frustrated tone to emphasize his youth. He should cross his arms defensively, physically demonstrating his resentment at being the 'forgotten' sibling while the family revolves around Verity's illness.
Verity 1 (The Child)
I am a tall person. I am a very tall person.
🎬 Performance Strategy:
This should be delivered rhythmically, like a skipping record, using a high, childlike pitch. Physically, she should rock back and forth. It shows the audience how she uses repetitive mantras to soothe herself when she cannot process the world.
Verity 4 (The Observer)
Nobody understands me. Nobody listens. Find me.
🎬 Performance Strategy:
Deliver this line directly to the audience (breaking the fourth wall) with a clear, lucid tone and intense, unblinking eye contact. Standing perfectly still creates a haunting contrast to the chaotic physical theatre happening around her, isolating her completely.
The Chorus (All Veritys)
[In unison] Bad girl. Naughty girl. Wicked girl.
🎬 Performance Strategy:
This must be delivered via precise Choral Speaking. The actors must hit the hard consonants ('d', 't', 'k') in perfect synchronization with a rising volume. It creates a terrifying auditory environment representing the internalized societal judgement echoing in her mind.