ABSTRACT
In this chapter, focusing on both the dramatic and phonographic contexts for Cruise’s performances, I discuss the ways in which elements of each – such as make-up and costume design in the former; orchestration and production in the latter; and vocalisation in both – suggest aspects of her character not explicitly addressed in Twin Peaks but which nevertheless contribute significantly to its other-worldly ambience and supernatural themes. I place this discussion in the wider context of the relationship between performance and mediumship in Lynch’s oeuvre, particularly the films Mulholland Drive (2001) and Inland Empire (2006) and the musical play Industrial Symphony No. 1 (1990) in which Cruise plays the role of ‘The Dreamself of the Heartbroken Woman’.
