Applicant

1st Script

I have been cast as 'Piffs' in the 'Applicant' sketch. I was happy to be cast as I had personally chosen this role. Even though the character is female, I see her as having many masculine traits, such as being of a military background and a dominating personality. The character has to torture the applicant (Lamb) during the scene, in order to see if he is suitable for the job. I am not sure if this is a legit interview, or a mock interview playing a sexual situation, where each character is being served. Piff's is found between skin and flesh in certain fruits and is considered bitter. This may suggest something of the character, that she is bitter or unpleasant. It may also mean she is considered a 'necessary evil'. Lamb is a baby sheep, so is innocent and harmless. Being a Lamb also suggest they are obedient, obliging and follow the crowd. I see this relationship as a predator (Piffs)/Prey (Lamb) relationship.

First Reading

I was cast alongside Jamie for the sketch. I would play Piffs and he is playing Lamb. This is interesting, as ait is almost reverse of the sketch 'Trouble in the Works'. I had some idea for this character, but the performance is flat at this time. There is no energy, emotion. Their needs to be more direction in the performance. The scene is like a ritual so I will need to develop the character more like a sexual deviant. I was also need to more dominating, direct and in control of the scene, as the character is in control. I want to develop the character as almost being robotic, as they are cold and uncaring. The nature of the character in this scene suggest they had a difficult upbringing, perhaps they are were an orphan, or suffered abuse. She is also a woman in a male dominated world, which suggest she is a strong woman, but also she may have had to use her 'charms' (cough) to get there.

Communal character and background development

During the communal session, Jamie and I were able to establish some details for the scene. We had good ideas for the characters, and we are able to form most of the character independently as the characters have no predetermined relationship. However, their were some things that we wanted to be in line with, such as what the interview is for. What is Piffs job role? What is Lamb applying for? We decided that much of the information should remain 'classified', but that British Intelligence services were involved. We also decided that the role is possibly something to do with Nuclear physics or perhaps rocketry due to Lamb being a physicist. We also decided on the age of our characters and I decided Piffs would be 55. The reason is because she is in a powerful position for a woman in her era. She possibly gained influence during the war, therefore must have been of working age during the war. She is roughly born at the turn of the century and her life would have included WW1. Piffs is also an orphan, which is used to explain her sociopathic personality. The Applicant was my favourite of the three scenes I played in. I enjoyed playing the character Piffs and I found that this character was the one I had clarity of their physique and movement style. I had earlier decided that Piffs would be almost like a soldier but with a twist of dance like elegance to her movement. I also wanted to add a robotic element to the process. When Piffs is being analytical, she is more like a robot in her movement. I felt I was able to use this movement, without it looking mechanical. It was effective for creating pauses, moments that allowed the victim to be observed, suffering with the pain of electrocution. I believe I was able to execute this style with Piffs and make the character hugely contrasting to the other female character I was playing. The clip board had also been an important part of the performance and it was influential in establishing my characters mannerisms. The character is impatient, so I used actions that show the characters frustration and that inflicts a change in character. Piffs will take a breath before releasing the frustration. I am not a dominant person, so this role required me to tap into parts of myself that I do not use. Yes, I have it within me otherwise I could not be like this, but its not a personality style that I use. I am a pacifist, so I dot not like to cause harm to others. However, during the performance I took pleasure during Lambs torture. Obviously, it is staged, but I felt in the moment, real emotions based on the scene. I had become Piffs, I was torturing that pathetic man and getting pleasure from it. I, or Piffs, wanted to hurt the man and cause distress. This is how she gets her kicks. If she is not performing in her role, she is essentially only a robotic and analytic person, a psychopath or at least a sociopath. Even though it was challenging getting into costume in time for the scene, I felt I was able to enter character quickly and stay in character through each performance. I believe that the action of holding a clipboard was most pivotal for helping me enter character for this scene. Regardless of costume or location, if I perform the action of holding the clipboard and changed my physique, I could become Piffs due to the action of holding the arm in position of the board. On top of this action, Piffs has other actions, such as she likes to use a Pen to articulate words. I felt that I was able to add this to the performance and it also added some femininity to a female character played by a male.

I felt the performance was entertaining and flowing. Jamie and I again show good working chemistry in this scene. We had been able to develop characters that were contrasting and could work off each other. He was willing to go along with not only my character, but my actions and improvisations I used during rehearsals. The scene is enjoyable to watch because of the nature of the scene, the performance and the various effects used. It makes this scene more contrasting and unique to most of the other scenes. I felt my performance was shocking and Jamie electrifying. I did not hesitate to hold back during this performance an went to the extreme necessary to truthfully portray the subtext of the script.

Hot Seating

During the hot seating session, I was able to came up with new details for my character, I was mainly able to confirm details and establish them as background for my character. I decided that the character would be unmarried, career woman who was involved at Bletchley Park during the war. In this sketch, our characters were able to have their own backstory, but we had to decide on shared details of the play. We were allowed to suggest the job position was 'classified', but that it was within British intelligence. I am a recruiter for a department within a secret department, who recruits physicists and other scientists. I was able to make decision that her super objective was to run the department and her career focus meant that she had no time for relationship outside of her job. This meant that the efface of efficiency meant that Piffs achieves all of her social satisfaction through the role. From this I also decided Piffs is an orphan who was raised by foster parents. Her lack of close parents means she became distanced emotionally, is closed to relationships, focused on career and sociopathic.

This rehearsal allowed some addition of direction. I was able to better action the various parts of the script and evolve on the interaction with Lamb. I feel me and Jamie are able to work well together and are finding our places with our characters. I still feel I need to keep moving forward with the character and gain a better understanding of the script. I have found the efficiency of the character, but I feel this is too direct for theatre. I need to play some more on the emotions of the scene and allow Piffs personal feelings come into the scene. I do feel I have become more hands on and have applied some dominance to the character, but there needs to be more of a routine established. Out of all the characters, I feel I have a better idea of this character than I do for the others I am playing. I need to play on the terror of Lamb and the power I have in the situation, where Lamb is so willing, he will go through anything Piffs does to him.

Jessi (Director), advised on some small changes to the performance. She suggested to use the leg switch during the questioning. She also suggested to push Jamie across the stage. With this, it created some transition for the scene, as we plan to use both sides of the stage. I feel this has further sexualised the performance so I will now make this the primary dynamic of the character and sketch. I felt I lost some character ism during this performance but it is important to develop the direction and action of the scene. I feel Jamie and I have a good chemistry, both in this sketch and 'Trouble in the Works'. For this scene it works because I am playing the female and as a male he is genuinely uncomfortable being in this situation.

7 Levels of Tension - High Tension

High Tension Edition: During this scene, high tension was used differently by the characters, For Lamb, he went towards a higher level of nervousness, where as I used tension to try and make Piffs more intimidating and assertive. Although I was unable to fully tap in the aggressiveness I was aiming for, it made me push my idea of the character becoming more dominant. Piffs is not a character who would suffer from fits of rage, but instead become more imposing when she is trying to control and manipulate the situation or is other ired in some form. At one point I used a masculine voice as a joke, but it actually caused a positive reaction. I can use this at times to further assert my authority over Lamb, or to possibly suggest that I may be a man. Jessie (director) suggested using the deeper voice at the end, “Thank you very much....” and its possible that I may used a deeper voice in that context. My main stimulus as Piffs is sexual, so a deeper voice might be used when she has achieved her goals.

Off Script: 1st Attempt

This was the first time we had tried playing off script. Many of us have been sick due to COVID and also we have been through half term. Therefore, going off script at this time had increased challenges, but needed to be done. I feel I have remembered most of my lines, especially the extended dialogue (after a hard days work... Do woman frighten you...) but during performances still got confused at some points. The part where this is a break threw me off, because their feels like their is a gap in my memory. I realise of course, there is supposed to be a gap because this is where the shock part happens. This will help me to remember during later performances as I will focus on that line until I have it cemented. I feel I am moving closer with the character, but still scenes there is too much of myself. I thought the ritual part of now coming together and I am gradually changing my characters style, emotion and direction to reflect that. The main part I have added at this time is to spell out 'VIRGO INTACTA'. Piffs is getting very impatient and wishes to make it perfectly clear what the question is and wants an immediate answer. I still think I can add more to this and have thought about using my body at the end, such as putting my foot on Jameis lap and exposing my leg. I also want to make the 'Their', sound like Piffs has achieved Orgasm, i.e. one of her objectives, for the process. Overall, if I can incorporate the characteristics and the routine together and add some more (obviously remember the lines), I will be happy with what I have achieved with this character.

Tech and Dress

Under directors order we will required to perform a dress/tech rehearsal. For the performance, I was able to incorporate some of the femininity I had learned earlier on for Black and White. However, I see Piffs as a powerful, dominating, masculine, military woman. She has a good posture, but it allowed me to add some refining to the feminine side of the character. I am happy with most of the characteristic I have created for this character, but I still need to work on the direction. I am happy i have been able to remember the script, particularly the longer sections. I also find this character liberating as I can go to board intimidating Jamie and playing on the characters feminine charms. I also like the more obvious ritualistic nature to the sketch, although most of the sketches have some degree of ritual or routine in their script. I feel now closer to establishing the character and incorporating this into performance. The ritual and direction is also at a finishing point. Each will require some refining, but with only a short time before the final performance, it is good to be a this point. I feel that the actions I have added into the ritual, have created awkwardness in Jamie which has supplemented the performance.

During the class, Ed was able to provide some input for the character. He suggested I start questioning Jamie (Lamb) whilst on the floor. Before I had not considered this as I felt my character was using this time to analyse the character. However, I liked the suggestion and decided I will try to see if it works in the next rehearsal. It is outside of the original script, but if it works with the lines and existing direction, then it should not detract from the original direction.

For Production for this role, I need to ensure my costume is on the right side. This is because my character enters from this side. I also need to make sure I have the clipboard ready and that I do not cross the stage when I need to get ready for my queue. I also need to remove the office chair from the scene.

Final Performance

The Applicant was my favourite of the three scenes I played in. I enjoyed playing the character Piffs and I found that this character was the one I had clarity of their physique and movement style. I had earlier decided that Piffs would be almost like a soldier but with a twist of dance like elegance to her movement. I also wanted to add a robotic element to the process. When Piffs is being analytical, she is more like a robot in her movement. I felt I was able to use this movement, without it looking mechanical. It was effective for creating pauses, moments that allowed the victim to be observed, suffering with the pain of electrocution. I believe I was able to execute this style with Piffs and make the character hugely contrasting to the other female character I was playing. The clip board had also been an important part of the performance and it was influential in establishing my characters mannerisms. The character is impatient, so I used actions that show the characters frustration and that inflicts a change in character. Piffs will take a breath before releasing the frustration. I am not a dominant person, so this role required me to tap into parts of myself that I do not use. Yes, I have it within me otherwise I could not be like this, but its not a personality style that I use. I am a pacifist, so I dot not like to cause harm to others. However, during the performance I took pleasure during Lambs torture. Obviously, it is staged, but I felt in the moment, real emotions based on the scene. I had become Piffs, I was torturing that pathetic man and getting pleasure from it. I, or Piffs, wanted to hurt the man and cause distress. This is how she gets her kicks. If she is not performing in her role, she is essentially only a robotic and analytic person, a psychopath or at least a sociopath. Even though it was challenging getting into costume in time for the scene, I felt I was able to enter character quickly and stay in character through each performance. I believe that the action of holding a clipboard was most pivotal for helping me enter character for this scene. Regardless of costume or location, if I perform the action of holding the clipboard and changed my physique, I could become Piffs due to the action of holding the arm in position of the board. On top of this action, Piffs has other actions, such as she likes to use a Pen to articulate words. I felt that I was able to add this to the performance and it also added some femininity to a female character played by a male.

I felt the performance was entertaining and flowing. Jamie and I again show good working chemistry in this scene. We had been able to develop characters that were contrasting and could work off each other. He was willing to go along with not only my character, but my actions and improvisations I used during rehearsals. I believe my performance and actions made Jamie (the actor) feel awkward, shocked and repulsed. He was able to integrate the natural emotions created from the actions and delivery into his characters performance to a natural performance for the situation. The scene is enjoyable to watch because of the nature of the scene, the context, the performance and the various effects used. It makes this scene more contrasting and unique to most of the other scenes. I felt my performance was shocking and Jamie electrifying. I did not hesitate to hold back during this performance an went to the extreme necessary to truthfully portray the subtext of the script. Jamie was able to apply dramatic effect to his electrocution and worked it. I used my characters persona in contrast to this, to be expressionless or smile pleasantly during the torture.