ACT ONE
In every scene, the audience reacted the way we expected and wanted them to. I found the laughter and other sound reactions actually comforting to me on stage as we were successfully delivering our roles and the moods of the different scenes. In the oathtaker scene, there was a short moment of silence where we were waiting for one of the guards to say the next line. However this was then filled in with improvised comments and subtle but helpful hints to the guard character that got us back on track. This gave me more experience in knowing how to handle a situations like this, by improvising and continuing if any lines go wrong. We learnt this in the last couple of weeks coming up to the show by not being allowed to be prompted for lines.
In the Jane scene, my attitude had changed from nervous to enthusiastic as I felt entirely comfortable with my lines and the persona I had to put across. However there was slightly less laughter from the audience in this scene, which was perfectly understandable to them but to me and the rest of us we had grown over time to get used to this subject and how it was treated in this scenario. But I feel my consistency with my characterisation (voice style and movement) helped the audience understand my type of character, and that it was a dark humour. After the Polar Bear scene, I made last minute decisions to the way I re enter the stage, such as stumbling on trying to fit on my shoe, with my hair more ruffled, showing Jane rapidly attempting to switch back to what she was like 10 minutes prior (to her professional state). I was really happy with my performance and nothing obvious went wrong (missing odd lines) as me and Holly worked together and supported each other.
In the britney scene, it was the best performance for this we had done. No one forgot their lines and I felt we were all encouraging each other through the large amount of energy we projected. This was where the audience were at the peak of their laughs, and it was just as enjoyable for us on stage. I was really impressed with some of my cast such as Max as the character Biffer, as he added a lot of his own humorous input there and then which we hadn't seen in rehearsals as much. I think he fed off the positive reaction he was getting, so carried on further. I felt this influenced the rest of us to also exaggerate our characters, as there really was no limit to the bizarre world of 'Dissocia'.
ACT TWO
After watching Wednesday's show and being able to watch Act 2 in the changed set design/seating, I felt completely exposed when they used the harsh bright lighting and there were long silences and pauses. The audience were now forced to observe everyone ad everything they could see, mostly because there wasn't a constant flow of things happening so everyone was finding somewhere for there eyes to set on, until the next character entered. It was as if people were actually breathing more slower and quieter to avoid attention to themselves. In our show, I felt this tension when entering for my scene, and could feel all eyes glaring on really the only active object. This, however helped me to remember how this is a naturalistic play, and how I should act like the audience aren't even present. I find switching from characters of Act One to characters of Act Two easy because the acts are so contrasting to each other, from a funny, crazy fantasy, to a simplistic, solemn reality. We also decided to count up to a certain a number before entering the room to ensure we kept the slow pace.
Overall I am pleased with mine and everyone's performances and I've gained a lot of skills from this production due to factors like having a double cast. With this person we were able to support each other and share ideas that would develop our characters. This production was fantastic to study and was a great opportunity to reproduce, as it pulled me especially out of my comfort zone and challenged me to take on a big role.
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