Biffer inspiration

Overall costume ideas that I have had at this point is to focus on a portrayl of a character that Mark Hamill portrayed in Channel Four comedy: Man Down, (Hamill on the right)

I felt like this is a great inspiration for my character of Biffer. Hamill's character is called Bob, he essentially does all of the work in the cafe imaginatively called 'Bob's cafe'. Although his name is on the building the one who actually runs everything is his wife, when the character Dan meets him, Bob then begs him to take him away from the cafe.

This gave me a really good idea for the whole basis of Biffer, Biffer of course does all the work and is completely unappreciated as a person. This is a key link between all the characters. Bob is essentially a talking version of Biffer, you can hear his desperation when he finally gets someone to talk to. I feel like for the initial version of Biffer this is the most important part of my development.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoI94Epkjrc

Watched the whole of this lecture, was incredibly important to me to see a professionals opinion embedded with fact. I felt like the whole of this gave me great clarity on the subject matter. And made me greatly aware of how to approach mental health.

General examples of mental disorders with dissociative tendencies

Anxiety:
Anxiety is a normal emotion that we all experience, such as in the run up to exams or a job interview. But when anxiety becomes much more severe this feeling can take over and begin to interfere with everyday life.

Conditions under the anxiety disorder umbrella include: generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

For people with an anxiety disorder, feelings like stress, panic and worry are longer lasting, more extreme and far harder to control. Symptoms may also include feeling restless or agitated, having trouble concentrating or sleeping, sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness and heart palpitations.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder:

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder that makes an individual more likely to have short attention spans, be impulsive and hyperactive.

Most cases are diagnosed when children are 6 to 12 years old and it can have a big impact on a child’s ability to learn at school. ADHD often occurs alongside other problems, most commonly depression, but also anxiety or sleep disorders among others.

The symptoms of ADHD often persist from childhood into teenage and adult years. However, the symptoms of ADHD can be more subtle in adults and affect them in a different ways to children.

The causes of ADHD are not clear, but we know that people who have a parent or sibling with the condition are much more likely to be affected. It has also been suggested that low birthweight and premature birth may play a role too.

Both behaviour therapy and medication can be used to improve the symptoms of ADHD. Behaviour therapy focuses on helping a person to control their behaviour, while medication can help improve attention span and reduce impulsive behaviour. 

What is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that affects a person’s mood, energy and ability to function. 

It is characterised by extreme mood states, described as:

• manic or hypo-manic episodes (feeling high)
• depressive episodes (feeling low)
• potentially psychotic symptoms – where an individual experiences delusions or hallucinations 

These episodes are much more severe than the normal ‘highs and lows’ of life that we all feel – they may last for several weeks or months, and can leave those affected feeling out of control or ruled by their moods. Equally a person may not be aware they are in the midst of a manic episode. These extreme moods can make work and relationships very difficult, and people with bipolar disorder are at an increased risk of suicide. 

There are several types of bipolar disorder: bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymic disorder. These share symptoms, but are different in terms of severity and intensity. Some people experience periods of ‘normal’ mood between episodes.

What is depression?

We all experience low mood sometimes - it is a normal part of life especially after a loss or bereavement. Depression in the medical sense however can leave people feeling severely sad, empty, hopeless or guilty for weeks, months or even years. 

It can affect every part of a person’s life. Relationships. Work. Physical health. They all suffer. And, at its most severe, depression can be life-threatening.

Depression can also have physical symptoms, such as fatigue, sleeping badly or much more than usual, poor appetite or overeating, and loss of sex drive.

Everyone experiences depression differently. But however it affects people, it’s definitely not the same as simply feeling low for a few days or something that people can ‘snap out of’.

What are eating disorders? 

An eating disorder is when a person’s eating habits and relationship with food becomes difficult. Eating problems can disrupt how a person eats food and absorbs nutrients, which affects physical health, but can also be detrimental both emotionally and socially.

The three most common eating disorders are:

• Anorexia nervosa (restricted food intake and/or excessive exercise)
• Bulimia nervosa (binge eating followed by deliberate purging)
• Binge-eating disorder (BED) (episodes of overeating in a short space of time)

Eating disorders often occur alongside other mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance misuse disorders.

There is no single reason why someone may develop an eating disorder - it can be the result of a combination of genetic, psychological, environmental, social and biological factors. While they can be very serious mental health conditions they are also treatable and, although it may take a long time, full recovery is possible.

Treatment normally consists of monitoring a person’s physical health while addressing the underlying psychological problems with psychological therapy such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or family therapy. Medication such as a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may be used to treat bulimia nervosa or binge eating.

What is obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)?

All of us obsess about things from time to time – whether we left the iron on, or if we shut the door – but obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is much more serious. 

OCD is an anxiety disorder which causes people to experience obsessive thoughts followed by compulsive behaviours. Obsessions are frequent intrusive, unwanted thoughts which cause anxiety, disgust or unease. Compulsions are activities carried out repetitively in an attempt to temporarily relieve the distressing feelings of the obsessive thoughts.

For some people with OCD, obsessions and compulsions may occupy an hour a day, but for others it can become so severe that it takes over - preventing them from living a normal life, holding them captive, and potentially damaging their health, relationships, education or employment.

Treatment for OCD has improved and has a good chance of relieving and controlling obsessions, or preventing the condition from getting worse. Treatments are generally either cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), medication such as a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), or a mixture of the two.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder triggered by traumatic events in a person’s life such as real or threatened death, severe injury or sexual assault. 

PTSD can affect people of any age, and the symptoms normally begin within the first three months after the traumatic experience.

People with PTSD usually experience nightmares, flashbacks, and vivid upsetting memories of what they went through. They may also feel very anxious and ‘on edge’, and may try to avoid being reminded of the traumatic event.

What is schizophrenia? 

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness, which disrupts how someone thinks, their understanding and perception of the world around them, including what they see or hear.

Quite often the condition will cause psychotic symptoms, which means the distinction between thoughts and reality become blurred - a person may experience delusions or hallucinations. This can make the condition alarming and confusing for both the person affected, and their family and loved ones.

Schizophrenia can be devastating - but through research we can provide better and more effective treatments.

Schizophrenia tends to develop when people are in their late teens or twenties. And while it is normally a lifelong condition, the symptoms are treatable and most people affected will get better over time.

2A.D1 evaluation

The time that I felt that I used the most focus and imagination within the context of rehearsals was doing an exercise led by Mr. Hughes. It was essentially and improvised walk-through of a fictional world (in a similar way that Dissocia is Lisa's fictional world). the exercise was done by everyone lying down for about forty minutes whilst soft music played in the background. Mr. Hughes then narrated everyone through this whole world and spoke about various locations. After such a long time in this fictional world I felt very drained, and in a way wanted to go back to lying on the ground in this world with soft music. After spending such a time working with this the worlds locations became vivid and true. Whether it was a domed roof building, or a cold stone basement at the foundation of that palace. This was probably the most important part of the rehearsal process for me as it allowed us to experience what the main character would be feeling as she entered Dissocia. A world which is screwed up, yes, but was ultimately intriguing and immersing, and altogether more interesting than her real life.

A key activity that helped me devise my performance was when we were asked about our character's happy place. For this I obviously had to work out the happy place for two characters. I felt as though this was one of the most important exercises for me personally as it helped me get to know my characters outside of the context of the play. Possibly examining their own lives and daily routine. A process like this was useful for my character as the thoughts and feelings that they experience outside of the confines of the play can impact their lives in the play. In the same way of something happening outside of school that could impact your decisions within school, work or anything else.

The primary research that I had used to navigate myself throughout the world of the play was examining the actual work place of both of my characters. Both of them are in high stress environments so this made me think, how would theses environments affect someone who has a condition towards a dissociative disorder. For Guard one the context of being in an airport and essentially being the 'first line of defence' appears to promote and increase his high stress tier environment. My thoughts here were to implement these features into his standard persona and I feel that I brought this across properly. The next stage was Biffer, Biffer being mute is something important in the context of Lisa's own personal work place treatment, which I think is heavily affecting in her daily life.

2A.D2 evaluation

To prove commitment to the my role within rehearsals, the skill that I most used, was my willingness to give up my own time. Any extra-scheduled rehearsals I would turn up and give the best of my ability. However the most active skill I used within rehearsals to show a high level of commitment would be doing certain physical exercises that I devised for myself to get in to the role of my character best. For example what I would do first would be to examine my research towards people who do have dissociative disorders (particularly in my case for split personality and bipolar disorder). Then next step after that would be to work on my own my own physicality and slowly shape myself into an amalgamation of the features that I had researched, this was important to me because then the character that I had created could essentially become a more exaggerated interpretation of these disorders. I believed this to be important within the context of rehearsal to get this right as I did not want to get to the point of making fun out of these conditions, but only subtly infer them in a strange, crazy, hyped up character.

I believe that I have been a confident and effective member of the ensemble by adapting to change primarily. the first example of this was me putting forward ideas as much as possible of what we could do with the scenes that I had been a part of. Although many ideas were not used I believe that it showed my willingness to put forward thoughts that could help develop my scene and prove me to be an active learner and performer in the context of education and acting. I also believe that I was an effective member of the ensemble by adapting to a change of casting quite rapidly, whilst helping the new actor playing the guard. This was important not only within the context of the both of us as active performers but also within the context of the whole of the show. This is due to the scene being very long and if the guards did not work well together and have the right chemistry as we did then the play would end up slogging through the second scene adding a lot of dead time to the show.

Finally in the context of my preparation for the role, as I said before, I did a variety of physical exercises based upon my research into how people act who may have a split personality or bipolar disorder. The reason for researching these two things is to display the highs and lows of when the guards get upset or otherwise, and also between the interactions of both guards, as they communicate in a contradictory and scattered way. Similar to the relationship that someone with spd would end up facing with the interactions between their own personalities. To show this I would go through a routine to start a nervous twitch in the corner of my mouth, to do this I would have to make a croaking from the back of my mouth and then start to move my mouth in and out of a smile until only the corner of my mouth would be moving. When this was done it could be kept up consistently for about three minutes. The next point of this was to display how I could create a nervous demeanour, which I did using a 1 to 10 exercise of physicality. I would do little ticks and jerking motions until I reached emotion state 10 where the motions would become forced and exhausting, I went back down the scale and then picked the physicality most natural yet exaggerated.

2B.D3 evaluation

I felt that I used my skills with control within this performance through hitting my cues and adapting depending on if anything were to change in the performance. This in my opinion was shown throughout my first scene alongside Guard 2, I take this in to strong consideration when thinking of in fact how me and the other actor although our lines were fast paced and that there were points that even when we both mixed up our lines we could easily both pick up on each others cues and create an effective flow that left the scene uninterrupted.

Regarding the success of the performance I feel that I have now made numerous contributions by putting forward a variety of movements that were implemented into our scene and performance. This can be shown through certain motions between me and my other colleague throughout our interactions revolving around our small fight scene. I also believe that we had left ourselves within a good position for the rest of the scene by using the movements and such that I decided to put forward in the way that the guards approach Lisa and to what degree we decide being friendly or being aggressive. In the context of character this is important as the guards are very unbalanced characters.

I would say that the part of the performance that I am most impressed with and proud of within the context of myself is my recovery that I felt I was able to pull off in the fight scene after accidentally knocking my head during the struggle between me and the other guard. Even though I was dizzy I kept going and kept struggling and the scene carried on without being disrupted at all. The reason I felt like this is important for myself to consider is that the fact I had knocked my head was my own mistake but I carried on and corrected it without making the scene appear like I had forgotten a motion or a set of lines. In the context of the performance as an ensemble though I believe that we all had worked incredibly hard throughout the whole of the performance but specifically to create an effective changeover between act 1 and 2. The change from this strange final scene of us holding hot dogs and such and frankfurters and then charging off stage was incredibly important. After that scene we suddenly see Lisa crying as the black dog approaches when realistically this in fact the blend between dissocia and reality where you can't quite tell which part of the world you're in, I've dubbed this act 1.5. The fact how we as performers all decide to remain still and calm really increased the general feel of the scene as we finally broke out of dissocia.

Overall I feel that in the context of my own performance I would have worked more on my diction and how I measured my words out but I didn't really have time to do this whilst we worked with a change of my partnered cast member. I feel like if I were to have worked on my diction better I would have gained the laughs that I thought my character would have drawn up as some of the jokes appear to have been lost within shouting and actions in my scenes as the guard. In the context of Biffer (a silent role) I felt as if I did everything I could in the character to the best of my ability as I have not been used to portraying a character that doesn't use English. So overall I feel like all I could have done with Biffer would have more practice with the character. However in this context I feel like I performed to the best of my ability with that character and managed to deal with a new and interesting role that could further my experience.

general thoughts of my character's impacts.

Guard 2Did we do the right thing?

Guard 1We did what we were told.

Guard 2We're such fucking lackeys.

Guard 1(nods) We're pricks.
This section I believe to be very interesting to my character and the context of the play in the way of explaining this I maintain that this is a representation of Lisa's mind within the play. I believe this to be relevant to my character as throughout the play all the characters seen are in fact a part of Lisa and her own personality. This is essentially a representation of Lisa's idea that anyone who stands by her for any period of time then decides to leave her behind and chooses in fact to have a hidden agenda for her 'best intentions'. Perhaps this can be a metaphor identified for Lisa's admittance into the hospital care facility. I maintain this idea due to something similar happening within the final scene of the first act.

BritneyAs a token of our gratitude, each of you is to be inducted into the Order of the Pulled-Up Socks, for your bravery in the line of –

LisaWhat's going on?

They fall silent.

ArgumentOh dear …

LisaAnything you can do to stop me finding my hour … ?They all look ashamed.This was all a fake?

BritneyLisa –

LisaYou haven't lost your sense of humour – And you haven't lost the argument – You haven't even lost your inhibitions!