Performance roles

PERFORMANCE ROLES
(I have updated this as my characters changed)

• Who have you been cast as? I have been cast as Betty Dullfeet, Dockdaisy and Sheet.
• What happens to this character? Betty Dullfeet: Betty is Ignatius Dullfeet's wife, who is a news reporter, and writes stories about Ui and his men. Ui does not like Dullfeet, and he is very cautious of the couple. Betty is a strong woman, but she loses her husband in scene 13, and her character changes dramatically, she becomes weaker and very distressed, whereas in scene 10 and 12 she is very upbeat and positive, she supports her husband, as he is a very nervous and timid character, she is definitely the strength in their relationship. She eventually at the end of the play succumbs to Ui's plan, and ends up supporting him, even though he murdered her husband. So Betty goes through a lot of emotions and change in the play.
• Dockdaisy: This character is very funny, and I really enjoy playing her. I was an understudy for this character, but when Jade left, I took over her role. Dockdaisy is a young drunk woman who is very light hearted and flirtatious, she is having an affair with Givola and lies for Ui and his men on two occasions and does not seem to have a care in the world. She is the opposite of Betty, which is fun for me as I can play around with both characters. Nothing drastic happens to Dockdaisy in the play, she is seen in scene 3, 7 and 8, drunk and behaving inappropriately, she does not suffer upset or loss like Betty, she is just like a puppet for Ui and Givola, and they use her to make themselves look better in public.
• Sheet: Sheet is a male part, and he is an accountant type character for the Cauliflower trust, he is an "honest" business man, I think most of the characters are quite dodgy, but Sheet is not a gangster and does not have anything to do with Ui. Sheet is only seen in scene 1B, and his character is quite serious, yet sarcastic. In this scene, he is with Flake, and there is tension between the two men, as they are worried about the Trust and what Ui will do. Sheet is only seen briefly at the beginning, and then in scene 5 it is announced that Sheet has been found dead in his hotel room. So Sheet has clearly been murdered by Ui and his men because they did not like him, and in scene 1b, Sheet says to Flake, Ui needs to be stopped and fast. Sheet is branded a "gangster" by Ui, which is a clear lie. but Ui never admits to killing him, even though everyone knows he did. Sheet is a good man, but is killed for his opinion about Ui and his men. Sheet also owns dockyards, which again, attracted Ui to him.
• What acting skills do you need to play them? As the play is Brechtian I will need to apply the Brecht epic theatre skills to both my characters . I need to make sure to not use naturalism as I find naturalistic acting enjoyable and quite easy, I will have to work hard to not apply this skill to my characters. Epic theatre skills enable the actor to portray the idea that the character is NOT real to the audience. I need to have versatility skills as I am playing more than one character, which is new for me as in all the other shows we have performed I have Always played the same character throughout. Another skill I will have to use is physical theatre skills. For example, I am playing a woman and a man, so I will have to work on my physicality as I will have to have a physical difference for all my characters, I cannot keep the same pace and body language for all my characters. "The quotable gest" is another Brecht acting technique I have been using for my characters. It helps the audience distinguish my different characters, and also makes my performance stronger, as I will have completely different gests and physicality's for all my characters. For example, for Betty, I feel she is very grounded and strong, so her gests are sharp and sustained, whereas Dockdaisy is very ditzy and seems younger than Betty, so her gests are more light and free, she breezes around  the stage and always seems drunk, so her movements are very airy and she sways quite a lot when she walks. Sheet is a man, so my physicality of him is completely different, he walks with a jump in his step, and I have been working hard on my entrance for this scene, as I want the audience to see me entering as a man and not as a woman playing a man. Sheet is serious, but  sarcastic but he is also stressed in this scene, so my gests for him are quite stylised and sharp, he is holding a brief case in this scene and his free arm is quite sustained, sometimes in his pocket, scratching his chin, adjusting his tie, I want his movements to be choreographed in this scene, and I can repeat these three gests throughout the scene.
• What about the role interests you? Betty Dullfeet interests me because she is one of the only female "main" characters. There are only two female roles in the play and I have been cast as both of them, which I am really happy about! Betty is a strong character as she is involved with the gangster crime world and is not kept in the dark from her husband who is a reporter but he is somewhat involved in the gangster world and is disliked by ui , which proves to me that she is a clever woman and is not just a house wife, which back in those days, most women probably were. Betty is opinionated and gutsy, and stands up to Ui in scene 13, which is the funeral of Dullfeet. All of the characters I am playing interest me, as they are all very different from each other and come from different backgrounds and situations. Betty interests me the most out of Sheet and Dockdaisy as she is the most complex and her characters goes through a timeline of emotions in this play, whereas the other two characters do not show much emotion, as Dockdaisy is acting throughout, as she is lying for Ui so we never see HER real emotions or character, and Sheet is killed off very quickly, so we never get to explore his character or background.

• Why will you be good at the role? I think I will be good at playing Betty Dullfeet as I have played strong female characters in the past and I do tend to be cast as these types of characters very much, which is a good thing as I am good at playing them and I enjoy playing these types of women. Betty Dullfeet definitely has a dark side which interests me even more about her character, as plain female characters with no edges do not interest me and I would be bored playing these types, but characters like Betty, who are definitely very strong, edgy and brave. Which is everything I like in a character so I will be good at playing her role as I can portray this very well. And will have fun playing her. I feel playing Dockdaisy is refreshing for me, as she is not serious at all, and is the opposite to Betty, so the audience will see me playing two completely different women, and I have really pushed myself hard to make sure the two characters are not similar at all, or that I do not slip into the same physicality when playing both characters, which I feel I have achieved. Playing Sheet, is really fun and I enjoy playing a man, I am happy that I get the opportunity to play both females and a male in the play, as it is widening my acting abilities and it portrays to the audience and my teachers that I am a versatile actor, and particularly in this play, I use three different physicality's.