Dissocia Questions to be answered weekly

Principles of ActingCriteria 1

• What is the context of the play?

The context of the play Dissocia follows a 21 year old woman and main character, Lisa Jones, who suffers from a mental illness, dissociative identity disorder. The play follows her journey inside her mind in to a world of her own called Dissocia. Along her way, she meets many characters who help and hinder her on her mission; to find her missing hour she lost on the way back from New York.

• How is your role linked to the context of the play? 
• Can you list at least three more detailed examples of your understanding of the genre of the piece? How does the context present challenges to the performers?

The context of the piece places a large challenge on the performers to convey Lisa’s illness in the correct manor to the audience. As mental illness is a grey area, we as performers have to be careful we treat it with respect and recreate themes and ideas related to the illness in a respectful fashion.

• What are the biggest challenges for you as a performer tackling a play written in the style your play is written?

Criteria 2 

• Do you consider yourself to have an effective and positive manner? 
• Do you approach research creatively and in a disciplined manner? 
• What do you consider to be your most important contributions to the rehearsal process? Particularly focus on highly positive ideas/guidance you provided? 
• Do you respond to direction well and use feedback from the director in a positive way to improve your work? 
• Are you supportive of others? 
• Do you approach characterisation  in a creative and inventive manner?
• How are you using vocal and movement skills in a confident way? 
• Is there a high level of believability about your interpretation of the role? 
• Does your performance demonstrate a high level of commitment and focus?

Contemporary Theatre
Criteria 1 

• What are the themes of the plays you are in?
• Explain in your own words what you  understand of the social and/or political purpose embedded in the themes of your plays?
• How has the Director's interpretation of the scripts affected the way the meaning of the play is represented to the audience? 
• (Set, character understanding, use of colour, lighting, costumes, music etc) 
• What interpretive choices have you contributed to the development of your character/the play/s?
• Explain in full your understanding of the style of each of the plays? (tragedy, comedy, naturalistic, stylised, Brechtian, fairytale, absurdism)
• How does the style of the play/mono you are performing in support the themes within the narrative?
• How are you developing your understanding of the character and themes on a weekly basis? 

Criteria 3

• During the the rehearsal process have you demonstrated a high level of originality?
• Are you able to develop and contribute ideas both with and without directorial support? 

 

***Questions below should be answered after both the full performances and after the monologue assessments***

Principles of Acting
Criteria 3

• Have you produced a performance in which you were able to handle any mistakes and recovery quickly if required?

Criteria 4 

• Discuss ways in which your character/s were imaginative and confidently performed?
• What were you trying to communicates to the audience about the narrative? the character?

Contemporary Theatre
Criteria 4

• Were you able to clearly express everything you planned for your character/s?
• Did you successfully reflect the intended style of the play/s in your performance/s?
• How would you describe your level of focus and engagement in your performance/s? 
• What would you consider to be the most imaginative differences in the characterisation you created for the play and the monologue?