Creating Character

Wed, 20 Sept 2006, 08:27 pm

Labrug12 posts in thread

What does it take to create a character? For the Actor, Director and Playwright?

Taking the lead of several posts found both from the thread What is this thing called acting? and the recent poll, Why do we do it?, let us look into what are the different techniques that we all use when creating a character.

Method Acting, Stanislavsky, Grotowski, organic, Shakespearian, what-ever. Maybe it's a process that you have developed yourself. Have you ever been challenged by a part so much that it left a mark you have never been able to shake? Or are you able to create a character and dispose of them like yesterdays old suit?

Tell us your tales and let us all learn form your experience.

Jeff Watkins
Labrug
http://au.geocities.com/labrug

Thread (12 posts)

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LabrugWed, 20 Sept 2006, 08:27 pm

What does it take to create a character? For the Actor, Director and Playwright?

Tell us your tales and let us all learn form your experience.

Jeff Watkins
Labrug
http://au.geocities.com/labrug

LogosThu, 21 Sept 2006, 08:50 am

Character

I've already posted a couple of stories on the threads above but in a serious attempt to give my point of view. I started out as a seat of the pants sort of actor. very little internalisation but I drew conclusions about what sort of person the character I was playing was and watched others who I judged were similar to that and copied them. It was largely a physical characterisation although I had a certain adeptness with voice and accent. Along came my Uni training and as Frank Ford, one of my lecturers was very much a Stanislavski man I beame something of an early russian school performer. I did however realise after a while that Frank was a bit out of date and began reading. I discovered Michael Checkov and explored much further into the various techniques that lump together loosley as method acting. I know that is not correct as technically only Lee Strasburg is Method but they all have a similar base. In the UK I directed a few shows largely on the London Fringe and found that the method school was for me becoming a little distracting. Actors were taking characterisation to a level that left the script gasping in the dust way behind the character concepts of the actors and in some cases the directors. This coincided with my beginning to write serious plays. Faced with a productio of one of my plays where my intent as a playwright was completely destroyed by a director and cast who took characterisations way out to stage left I began to wonder whether or not I had done the same thing to other writers work. I began to explore a technique that comes back more to the script than the old method school training does. I have now discovered, courtesy of Craig Edwards, that David Mamet is moving in that direction as well and I will read his book with much interest. This is a sort of potted history rather than a story or tale of an experience but I hope it will spawn some remarks. NB I always had trouble making method work with Shakespeare even when I was still a fan. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

Tari-XalyrThu, 21 Sept 2006, 10:49 pm

A Tale of not so old. . .

Well a tale from the not so distant past of the last few weeks. If you've been following my blogs you'll know about a: my original solo production & b: An Arty Affair Original Solo Production I have just spent the last 8wks developing, writing, creating, directing and performing my own 10min play. So I can give a shortened reposnse to the roles of Director, Actor and Playwright. (this was also a question in my interview during my exam last wk! lol) I try to avoid method acting I prefer to find my own way into a character's head. Being able to write, direct and perform the piece myself I didn't need to rely on interpretation of something that wasn't my own. Tarsha - my protag - has been floating around my head for a good 12months and I've been lucky enough to bring her to life - even if it isnt in her full glory. We did alot of workshopping for our characters. I drew inspiration from various areas of my life, people, books, strangers in coffee shops etc then combined with class workshops and impro activities Tarsha emerged slowly and surely. Directing yourself is an intersting process as I think I;m the only one of my class that had no actual staging help from our teacher so I can claim it as my own. lol. My staging etc was based on character relationships, story's being told and the world the audience is viewing onstage. My lighting choices for "An Arty Affair" were based purely on the worlds of the two characters I was portraying more to help the audience then anything. I think that being open to peoples ideas and opinions is vital in portraying any character. Sure draw primarily from your script but dont close yourself to ideas and others responses. Also be open to life in general - inspiration comes from the most odd places sometimes and sometimes they are so simple you cannot believe how obvious it was. I believe as an artist - peroformer, writer whatever - you need to be aware of the world around you. Simple really. ~ Tari The Writer is a child forever listening at the keyhole of the adult world.

RapunzelTue, 26 Sept 2006, 08:24 pm

Observation

Where to begin? What a very BIG issue to tackle. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers I suspect, just, whatever suits the individual at the time. Things change as you gain more experience anyway. I found the full time one year drama course I did in London provided me with new techniques, tricks and tips rather than the "this is how you act" thing I vaguely expected (and was thankful did not happen). It gave me all sorts of skills in unexpected areas and enhanced skills I already had. For instance I am now truly terrifying with a sword in my hand, for the right reasons mostly! My voice has become richer and my range has widened. All of these things add up to giving me the tools I need to create a character. The one thing they don't give you is the spark or inspiration. Most of the time I have found that comes from observation. Just looking at the people around you in ordinary life, what they do, how they do it, guessing at their reasons for doing it, etc. etc. can provide ideas about your role. Sometimes it may be a distant observation or memory, a gesture, all sorts of small things put together in a unique way. Very difficult to describe too! So much depends on the script and type of play as well. A fun farce, for instance, doesn't usually require a lot of deep Stanislavsky 'emotional memory', just the ability to produce a stock character of a typical type, and excellent timing. Same technique does NOT go down well for a Chekhov. Nontheless, observation helps create the farce stock character, as it does the tormented woman trapped by her environment. Interesting post, I look forward to other comments. Rapunzel "Papa, where is Mama? They tell me she has gone away, where is she?"

LabrugWed, 27 Sept 2006, 10:30 am

Growth in the Actor

Developing a character has, for me, been a very individual thing. I have not had very specific training as such, just a smattering of various techniques from here and there. In fact most of my ideas are from intuition and experience.

My very first theatrical experience was dreadful and actually put me OFF theatre - it was a Primary School Production of "Oliver". I didn't look back for many years thereafter.

It was then approaching the end of the 1980's when I joined up with a theatrical Youth Group. Here, I re-discovered my interest in theatre and learnt some valuable basics skills - Drawing on your self to find the character. Ultimately, you have to do this in some way no matter what style you follow. The character has to come from the actor in some way, but with no specific method, it was a rather hit-n-miss approach.

My first production after this experience, I played a military man, so I played him stiffly. Sadly, that was my focus and my character became very two dimensional. And so it was for a while apart from the discovery that I was particularly good at comic roles.

I had a wonderful challenge when I took on the role of Lt Witton in "Breaker Morant" - Certainly not comic, it was a character with far more depth and variety then any I had done before. There is this build-up of anticipation and hope from what initially appears to be a hopeless situation. As their plight appears to improve through the play, the state-of-mind of the characters changes. Being able to portray that transition was easy enough. Then everything is turned on it's head when despite their best efforts, their doom is sealed.

This sudden reversal was incredibly hard for me at the time and I spent a lot of time trying to see myself in something similar, high hopes only to have them dashed. I was truly concerned about the part and wanted to portray him as honestly as I could. In the last scene is where it all culminates for Witton. He comes to bid goodbye to his two friends, he tries several times to say something and is interrupted before finally walking out. I did not know how I was doing until one night I was approached by several audience members still wiping their eyes. When you see that you have reached someone on an emotional level, you know you hit the mark.

The most helpful advise I got was during that show. A fellow cast member suggested that I do not overplay the part. Keep it Simple. Speak softly. Play it more internally than on your sleeve and draw the audience into your thoughts. No matter what part I played from then on, I kept to these comments, or at least, tried to.

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
who can also sing ... and occasionaly dance
Fight/Sword Choreographer
Virgin Director

http://au.geocities.com/labrug

LogosWed, 27 Sept 2006, 10:38 am

Last night I sat and

Last night I sat and watched a rehearsal where a particularly unsympathetic character who is absolutely convinced he is right was played with anger and almost every line was shouted. There is no attempt to portray the characters self belief. He simply shouts and stamps around. We must always be very careful not to resort to such simplistic approaches. Even if we do not agree with the belief systenm of our character we must find sympathy somehow. I can't remember the film but I do recall the late Alec Guiness playing Adolf Hitler, he almost had me liking him. His books (Alec Guiness') are worth reading, not as acting manuals but as the decription of a full and rich life in the theatre. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

LabrugWed, 27 Sept 2006, 10:49 am

Shakespearian

The book I am currently reading called "Playing Shakespeare" talks about this very thing. Overplaying the part can reduce the impact of the message. Shakespeare had the idea and Hamlet was his vehicle of instruction.

HAMLET

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to
you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it,
as many of your players do, I had as lief the
town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air
too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently;
for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say,
the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget
a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to
very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who
for the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such
a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it
out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.

First Player

I warrant your honour.

HAMLET

Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion
be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the
word to the action; with this special o'erstep not
the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is
from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the
first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the
mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature,
scorn her own image, and the very age and body of
the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone,
or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful
laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the
censure of the which one must in your allowance
o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be
players that I have seen play, and heard others
praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely,
that, neither having the accent of Christians nor
the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so
strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of
nature's journeymen had made men and not made them
well, they imitated humanity so abominably.

First Player

I hope we have reformed that indifferently with us,
sir.

HAMLET

O, reform it altogether. And let those that play
your clowns speak no more than is set down for them;
for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to
set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh
too; though, in the mean time, some necessary
question of the play be then to be considered:
that's villanous, and shows a most pitiful ambition
in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready.

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
who can also sing ... and occasionaly dance
Fight/Sword Choreographer
Virgin Director

http://au.geocities.com/labrug

Bass GuyWed, 27 Sept 2006, 11:16 am

Labrug liaised....

"The book I am currently reading called "Playing Shakespeare" talks about this very thing." And it is behoven upon every wanna be actor to get they dead hands on a copy of this marvellous tome "Playing Shakespeare" by John Barton. It should be pre-requisite reading for those endeavouring to tackle the Bard in any way, shape or form. If you see someone walking down the street with a copy of it in their hands, cut off their hands and steal this book from them! It will be worth the community service the court says you'll have to do. El "It ain't braggin' if you can back it up."- Jaco Pastorius

LabrugWed, 27 Sept 2006, 12:11 pm

Hiding my Hands

>> "If you see someone walking down the street with a copy of it in their hands, cut off their hands and steal this book from them!"

Hang about El! I read and walk through the city everyday! What are you trying to do to me?!?!? - Where's the blue contact paper? Must disguise the book.....

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
who can also sing ... and occasionaly dance
Fight/Sword Choreographer
Virgin Director

http://au.geocities.com/labrug

Bass GuyFri, 29 Sept 2006, 10:28 am

Brown paper...

...might be more appropriate. No-one will ask questions if you're seen walking through the city furtively perusing a book covered in brown paper. Besides, how do you walk and read at the same time?? Every time I've tried I collide with things (trees, cars, spruikers, survey takers...) ;-P El "It ain't braggin' if you can back it up."- Jaco Pastorius

LabrugFri, 29 Sept 2006, 10:35 am

Book Walking

I employ a technique called "Furtive Navigation" - I hold my book slightly higher than usual and while reading occasionally divert my eyes onto the path ahead. I also walk at high speed forcing others to get out of my way lest they be trampled!

I had to learn it somehow, it's about the only opportunity I get to read anything these days - Walking or on the Train (and that's only a 5 min ride).

Absit invidia

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
who can also sing ... and occasionaly dance
Fight/Sword Choreographer
Virgin Director

http://au.geocities.com/labrug

abbzTue, 3 Oct 2006, 12:50 am

geez, talk about

geez, talk about multitasking! there's so much multitasking to be had when it's rush hour traffic...doing toenails, using 2 phones...eating take out with chopsticks...(I saw people in cars do it, by the way...) :P abbz

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