After spending a couple months working on the estate agent idea, the concept of the performance changed – as we could not come up with a name for our performance, when it was finally decided, everything changed, mostly for me. The new concept was called Safehouse – for most of the rooms in the house, this did not affect them, but primarily for me and the CCTV room it did. I had to change my performance to fit accordingly, now I was a ‘spymaster’ in charge of the whole Safehouse, my room no longer needed to look welcoming, so the ‘inspirational’ poster idea was out.
This idea to me was more exciting than the estate agent plan, as soon as I was aware of the change I had many different ideas about what I could do, and where I could go with this. The first thing I did was to get myself familiar with the perception of a spy, I watched two films in particular, the first being called Safehouse –
In this film, Ryan Reynolds plays the ‘housekeeper’ which is essentially what my role would be, the film is American, and with it are the American spies which in this case are the CIA. According to this film, being the ‘housekeeper’ of a safehouse is a small task, assigned to young, inexperienced agents, which explains why the term ‘housekeeper’ is used. On the other hand, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy;
is a film about British espionage, the safehouse used within the films plot, is a place not only to keep from being detected, but is used to pass along secret information, a woman lives there under a pretence that it is her home in order to avoid detection, and in a way she is the ‘spymaster’ or ‘housekeeper’ of that particular safehouse.
These two film versions of the type of character I will perform are completely different in a sense that one is for certain an agent/spy, whilst the other is most likely a civilian. At the same time, both of these characters are similar in their inexperience which is something that I will infact be, although I will be performing it differently in the sense that I want to appear experienced and professional to the audience, so they will believe as much of it as possible.
The dictionary defines the term safehouse as – “a dwelling or building whose conventional appearance makes it a safe or inconspicuous place for hiding, taking refuge, or carrying on clandestine activities” (((2013), Dictionary.com, Online: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/safe+house (accessed: 12 May 2013).)) In keeping with this point, we decided to apply a password/passphrase to the performance; we would give out four different passwords/passphrases to the audience members for each of the four days we were performing. I was told if someone forgot the password/passphrase or said it incorrectly, I would not let them inside, just shut the door in their face. I had to rewrite a new script and a new script for the short video we would be showing the audience, primarily discussing issues such as safety and how they should conduct themselves in the house.
In regards to costume and set design, the term I would use to describe it as a whole – minimalistic, strip everything down to the bare minimum, a spy would have no need for unnecessary objects cluttering up their room, and I wanted to look organised and appear to know what I’m doing. But I am aiming to make the room devoid all any personality, it will be as if I have just walked in a put some things on the desk, and if necessary, will be able to leave in a second if I have to. I need to make sure the audience know that my life in the house is temporary, this is not my home – it is my job. The audience will feel uncomfortable and unsafe in my presence, which is to set up how they should be feeling for the majority of time around the house, “Thus the dwelling must not only express an individual, but at the same time reflect a long past, if it is to give us a feeling of security and stability in life”. ((Bollnow, Otto (2011), Human Space, Hyphen Press, P.145))