Rebecca Heath Actor's Blog: Character Research

What I know about Minty from the Play:

What I have decided about my character:

· Her real name is Arminta O’Donnell. Minty is only her nickname. Arminta is quite a traditional Irish name and it can be a derision to Minty
· She was born in 1944, so that means that in 1977 (which is when the play is set) she is 33 years old
· She had her daughter Primrose when she was 18 years old, that means in 1977 Primrose is 15 years old
· Her family are originally from Glengarriff, Cork, Ireland. As she is a traveller I felt that they would have travelled far from whence they came and I feel that Ireland would be a very traditional place for them to start at.
· Her husband’s name is Shayne O’Donnell. He is in Lowestoft Prison as he was caught stealing lead off of church roofs. He did this in order to get money her husband would sell the lead to scrap yard

Minty’s object:

· Minty’s key object is a Hessian bag.
· The bag is important to Minty as she is a traveller so she doesn’t have many possessions that she can call her own.
· Everything she does own (like money, jewellery and clothes) is kept in her Hessian bag.
· The bag enables her to have something of her own that no one can take away from her in a world where she already has nothing.
· Minty first got the bag when she was 8. She was at a festival in her home town Glengarriff and her mother told her to fetch her father for lunch. She found her father getting beaten up by a country guy called Sheamus. Sheamus gave her 30p so that she would go away. She went and bought her bag from a stool and it is the last possession she has from her hometown and it is a reminder that she must protect the things that are her’s.