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Marié Botha: The Afrikaans New Yorker on her appearance on US TV show ‘The Penguin’ [VIDEO]
SA actress Marié Botha made an appearance on hit TV show The Penguin where she portrayed the character of Magpie.
In character: On the left SA actress Marié Botha as Magpie in a scene with Cristin Milioti on an episode of The Penguin. Picture: Supplied
Being a resident of cosmopolitan New York for more than a decade hasn’t diminished the Afrikaans “boeremeisie” inside South African actress Marié Botha.
“I will always be South African. It’s impossible to let go of the Afrikaans ‘boeremeisie’ in me, and I would never want to,” said Botha.
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The Afrikaans New Yorker
Botha had a guest appearance on the latest episode of hit TV series The Penguin portraying the character of Magpie.
She had a chat with The Citizen on Tuesday during her media run with the South African press.
“I’m proud to say that whenever I go back home to South Africa, I click right back into my South African accent,” said Botha.
But she quips about the uncertainty of her Afrikaans. She spoke to this publication after wrapping up an interview with Afrikaans radio station RSG.
“I literally feel like I messed up so bad because I don’t speak Afrikaans that much anymore. All I was thinking about was my primary school headmistress and if she listened,” she said bursting into laughter.
Viewers become acquainted with Botha’s character, Magpie, in the fourth episode which zooms into why lead character Sofia Falcone (played by Cristin Milioti) is known as ‘The Hangman’ in the story.
The two are introduced on Falcone’s first night at Arkham Asylum, where Magpie, who has a split personality, is also a patient.
The Penguin airs on Showmax and M-Net every Monday.
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Preparing for the role
From ordering every single comic that featured Magpie on eBay to studying similar characters, Botha crossed all the t’s and dotted the i’s in preparing for the intense role.
“For the Arkham and mental hospital side of it all, I re-watched The Batman and I studied the scenes where Paul Dano is in Arkham as The Riddler. I also watched some films set in mental institutions,” said Botha.
One of the films Botha watched was the classic flick Girl, Interrupted that stars Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie.
“I watched that and really allowed my mind to go there and be immersed in it. It is a very intense thing [the role].”
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Chemistry with Cristin Milioti
Botha appears only in three scenes in the episode but they’re all significant because of how they relate to Falcone’s character.
This meant that the South African had to have chemistry with Milioti for the scenes to be more endearing.
“I’m a guest star right, so my responsibility is to support the lead actress and her journey throughout the episode and this episode is about Sofia Falcone’s spiral and how uncomfortable and traumatising Arkham Asylum is,” shared Botha.
“I really worked hard on my three scenes and really drove deep. It’s actually almost magic if you get two actors together who want to play off each other, that was really special,” averred the Mzansi actress.
“She’s so nice, she’s like the kindest funniest person. It’s so cool to see the contrast because she just clicks in as soon as we start acting. She’s very dialled and focused.
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Channelling the squeaky villain
Botha studied at New York University’s respected Tisch School of the Arts.
After earning her BFA degree with honours, she enrolled in the master’s programme at the prestigious Yale School of Drama.
She said because of lessons learnt there, she was also able to channel Magpie’s squeaky voice.
“I’m very lucky that I went to undergrad and grad school at Yale and the vocal training we had there; it’s unparalleled. I’m very much accustomed to altering my voice when I’m working on a different character. For me, it’s important to have a different vocal register in every character you work on.”
She also dipped into Bellatrix Lestrange and Moaning Myrtle from Harry Potter for inspiration.
“I sort of put together a tapestry of different female villains’ voices and how they create that dissonance and discomfort in the characters that they deal with.”
Botha was so good at her portrayal of Magpie that fellow actress on the show Deirdre O’Connell gave her a figurative pat on the back at the premiere of the show.
“She said ‘oh my God, your voice drives us nuts when we were editing’.”
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Show success
The Penguin is racking in good numbers as it opened to 5.3 million viewers, breaking records on the Max streaming service these are numbers only from the US.
Episode 4 received a series’ best 9.6/10 IMDb rating; pushing The Penguin into the 100 top-rated series of all time.
“It feels surreal. I knew Magpie was gonna get some reaction but I am floored and overwhelmed and grateful and humbled by all of this. It’s incredible,” said Botha.
She is hoping the series’ executive producer Matt Reeves ropes her into any work involving Magpie as she would still like to explore more with the character.
“She [Magpie] has this whole untapped story that if viewers and fans are interested in seeing that, I would love to take that on. I did all of the research for these three scenes and it got me so excited about where this character could go. I really love her; she’s very dear to me.”
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An abode in New Yorker
Botha was born in Pretoria and grew up in Joburg’s northern suburbs. She left South Africa at the tender age of 18. She has been a New York resident for 14 years now.
“There’s no place like South Africa, it’s my favourite place in the whole world and always will be. Coming here [New York] was for sure a bit of a culture shock but the diversity in New York- you can be anybody here and fit it,” she said.
One of the things that has eased the actress into the melting pot of cultures in New York is a record store in Brooklyn on Van Brunt Street.
“I love records,” she says.
“My favourite thing is to walk into an old school record shop and actually hold them…and be excited when you find something that you’ve been looking for. I love music and I have a penchant for [Sixto] Rodriguez.”
She said the last record she bought was a Jim Croce record.
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