“My Character Wouldn’t Do That! Or Would They..?”
How often have you struggled to find the way to play a part? How do you know what choices to make? How best to deliver that line? Perhaps you ask your Director? A friend? Maybe you read the tea-leaves?
You are, of course, pursuing the most important goal of an actor; to produce for the audience a fully realised, three-dimensional “life force” (with a rich and complex history, too boot!). You must convince those rows of bums-on-seats that what you say is real – and not the empty mouthings of a caricature. They must be compelled by all you do on stage – knowing that each of your actions is fully and truthfully driven.
So that’s the challenge – but what’s the solution? Well, strangely enough I think the answer comes in the form of a question. Or rather a series of questions... Address these fully, and you’re well on your way to truly “living” the part – and bowling over both audience and colleagues.
So grab a pen and make some notes for your “Crash Course Character Crib Sheet” (believe me, if you properly answer the following set of queries, they really will help you immensely in your quest!).
Right – let’s begin…
1) Who am I?
Answer this in exactly the way you’d answer for yourself. What’s your background? Your place in the family? Where were you born a brought up? etc, etc. Simple steps, but crucial ones. You might find the answers in the script of the play, you might find only clues from which you must invent. But however you do it, be as thorough as you can. Maybe even write it all down in a separate notebook. The more detailed you make this compilation the greater will be your integrity on stage.2) Where am I?
Be very clear and concrete here. What is the actual space you find yourself operating in? Is it in a house, a battle field, and rocket in outer space? Are you familiar with these surroundings – or are you at odds with the environment?3) When is it?
By this I mean both the broad period of the play, and the very specific moment of the action. Is it first thing in the morning on a summer’s day at the turn of the nineteenth century? Or is it the small hours of New Years Eve – 1996?4) Where have I just (immediately) come from?
When you walk on stage you will have been somewhere before you appear. Yes? Well, you need to know exactly where this is – and what you’ve been doing there. The audience will definitely smell a rat if you simply amble on with no sense at all of where you’ve been before. Have you had to walk for miles, having left your car abandoned in the snow? Or have you just been discovered in bed with someone you really shouldn’t have been with? You can see, I’m sure, how important it is to know.5) WHAT DO I WANT? (capitals here – ‘cos this really is the big one!)
No, the answer isn’t that you want to get a few laughs and then race back to the dressing room! You have to know what is driving at this moment – what exactly is your most immediate and powerful imperative. By the way, don’t think it has to be wildly dramatic. I remember, once, being interrogated by a Director on this question. I suggested that I wanted to die, or wanted to reconcile myself to the absence of God in an indifferent universe. In the end she screamed at me that I simply wanted to check that I’d turned the lights off! On the other hand, some plays really do demand truly life-and-death defined “wants” (think of the drives that propel the characters in A Streetcar Named Desire…) What ever the case, to paraphrase the Spice Girls, you really must “tell yourself what you want – what your really, really want!”. Honestly - omit this one at your peril.6) Why do I want it? (see “5” above)
Justify your drives on stage and it’ll pay the most enormous creative dividends. In life, of course, you might not have any such rationale – but in a play it is almost always crucial to understand the “Why” of your character’s needs. A very handy hint, here; try asking yourself what will happen if your character doesn’t get what she or he is striving for? This usually does the trick – and is as applicable to “The Tragedy of King Lear” as it is to “Whoops, Vicar – There Go My Knickers!” In both of these plays (and any others for that matter) you really do need to know why you want what you’re after…7) What am I prepared to do to get what it is that I want? Just how far will I go – if pushed???
Here’s where the script is especially useful. If the play is a properly structured and compelling piece of drama, then you should be able to go through it and identify all the crucial moments that relate to this particular question (ie, the playwright should be showing you – and, indeed the audience – just exactly the actions your willing/able to take in order to achieve your ends). So get out that mythical “fine-toothed comb” and do some serious sleuthing of the text!So, the above sets of questions are my suggested answer to the challenge that I set out at the top of this article. My “Seven Secrets of Successful Living” (living on stage, that is). You’ll find, of course, that my list is not exhaustive – but if you kickoff with these you won’t go far wrong (and it’ll be more or less right on the night…)
Best of luck, Darlings! Have fun with the questions! Speak again next month!
PS – I wonder if this answer is what you really, really wanted…? :)
written by Paul Doust