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!

Thoughts on Biffer

Thoughts of the character Biffer, what I now in fact assume as a mute who might be forced into servitude, initially. later in the scene we still find out that he is of a lower rank but appears to be more knowledgeable than the others. This makes me wonder about what Biffer's role is within the context of Dissocia. This is in turn strange because Biffer always appears to be lesser yet some how is more. This has now made me consider that Biffer is possibly a metaphor for a possible situation in Lisa's life. Anthony Neilson within Dissocia uses various subtle hints about what happened to Lisa to make her end up in the way that she did. in this case I have a feeling that possibly Biffer is a metaphor for both workplace treatment and her parental treatment.

Initial thoughts regarding costume character, etc.

Overall costume:

High Vis jackets

and radios / headsets.

Thinking about context of the insecurity guards:

Character: Nervous twitchy and decidedly chooses to use drugs to stop any of the nervousness coming through but in turn is what causes the character to end up with his nervous disposition. 'Couldn't function without them' Think in context what that could mean for him if the character could essentially be so uncomfortable in their own life. Although a comedy part everything strange will seem normal within the wonderful world of Dissocia. in the spirit of this I have been thinking about the daily repercussions of the nervousness presented by my character from day to day life. there is mention of my character taking a 'stack' of drugs everyday but appears to suffer very little from taking such a high content of  narcotics. I imagine this is the kind of character to be speaking in strange short prose, I also have a feeling that the character is heavily dependent on his other guard for the sole reason that he simply can't function without the connection of his cohort. This makes me think that they possibly spend as much time together as possible.