CHAPTER 28
Session Eighteen
In this session: • Knowing your character • Character questions • More listening to ourselves • Physicalization • Next assignment
Coach: Today I’m going to ask you questions about your characters. These are the questions for each of you. Do you think this character could be you? Could you do what this character does? In other words, do you need to do anything other than be yourself in the situation? Who is your character and what does she believe? What does your character actually do? Why does she do what she does?
Can you see your character’s position? What are the stakes for her? Do you understand how her background allows her to do what she does? Does your character state what she wants, or does she suggest? Who are you speaking to? What is her intention—why are you bothering to say these words? How does she propose to reach her goal?
Okay, who would like to answer the questions first? (Nobody volunteers.) Alicia, how about you and Queen Margaret? (Alicia takes the chair across from me.)
Coach: What’s the matter?
Alicia: I’m scared.
Coach: There’s nothing to be scared of. I promise there is no torture in this. Do you have clearly in your head the place and reason for this character in the play?
Alicia: Yes, I think so.
Coach: Could this character be you, had you lived at that time?
Alicia: Perhaps. She’s strong and quite vocal. If that’s me. I guess it is.
Coach: To play this role, do you need to do anything but be yourself in the situation?
Coach: Now that you know what she’s saying, do you know who she is?
Alicia: She’s extremely loyal, she wishes she had more power, she thinks her husband is a coward.
Coach: Why does she think that? He’s a king.
Alicia: He maintains that he was forced into his weak position, but she doesn’t believe that.
Coach: Can you see his position at all?
Alicia: No, not really. I see only my position.
Coach: Is she a mother?
Alicia: She’s a mother and a monarch.
Coach: So her power is being usurped as well. How strong can you be?
Alicia: She can be very strong, to the point of leading the army. And she’s going to divorce him. Researching the words, this is the first time “divorce” is used in English—in her line. It’s also the OED’s example.
Coach: Then it’s probably one of the words Shakespeare invented. Does she hold back—that is, does she suggest things or demand them?
Alicia: I think she looks down on him. She doesn’t need to suggest.
Coach: Who are you speaking to?
Alicia: She’s speaking to her husband, the king.
Coach: And what is her intention? Why does she bother to say these words?
Alicia: She wants her son reinstated—but she has more problems than just that.
Coach: Okay, so what is she trying to do, just in this speech?
Alicia: She’s demanding that he take responsibility for what he’s done, and that he stop blaming it on other people.
Coach: How would he take that responsibility? What do you actually want him to do?
Alicia: Own up to what he’s done?
Coach: How would he do that?
Alicia: Stop blaming other people.
Coach: How would he do that? Remember, your intention is measured in the other character. Being successful with your intention depends on what your fellow actor does when you finish. What might he do?
Alicia: I want him to be ashamed of what he’s done, to take some action—
Coach: But that’s a long-term goal. What about right this minute? (Long pause.) You see what I’m after, right? I want you to be really clear about what you’re trying to achieve with these immediate words.
Alicia: After this speech, she just leaves the room.
Coach: So what is your immediate intention?
Alicia: To shame him.
Alicia: Into reinstating his son. But you say that’s too far away.
Coach: So what about right now?
Alicia: I guess he could reinstate his son right now—he’s the king. He could write an order right now.
Coach: Good, that’s an achievable intention. You’re going to get that written order. And when you don’t get it, you divorce him. Are you going after him directly, or are you going to suggest this intention?
Alicia: I think I’ll try it various ways.
Coach: “Shame” is a pretty strong verb.
Alicia: Maybe I’ll go directly after him.
Coach: I think you’re pretty clear about your character. Now you simply decide the way you want to play her. Shall we give it a try? If you’ll get the hair out of your face . . .
Alicia: I know! I have it pinned, it just won’t stay. (Maggie brings her more pins and we get the hair out of her face.)
Alicia does the monologue, and we work with the speech and do it three times. Then I give her a completely new intention, one that is totally wrong for the situation. I tell her, “Convince him that you really don’t want to divorce him, that he should come to you in gratitude when you finish speaking.” She does the speech with that goal. She uses her words to reach her goal, even though the goal is a poor choice for the character. We illustrate that once you know the language and the character, you can play it any way that’s asked of you. By working off of the other characters in the play, you will find the way you actually want to play your character.
Coach: Everyone, remember to express your intention with an active verb—one that clearly allows you to act it, not think about it, like Alicia’s “shame.” What do you want the other character to do once you have finished speaking? Remember, success in reaching your intention is measured in what the other person does. So what do you want him to do—right this minute, not long-term? I want you to be really clear about what you want to happen right now, as you finish speaking.
And please don’t allow your hair to hang in your face. Don’t let your acting be about hair—we see enough of that every day.
I ask these questions, or similar questions, of each actor, and after they complete the discussion, answering as best they can, they stand up and do their monologue, which I record. We replay each monologue, and all of the actors listen and comment. This takes a lot of time but is very much worth it. After we have heard the monologues played back, I make some blocking suggestions that they will try next time.
We also talk about physicalization for many of the characters. Everyone participates in these discussions.
I then give each actor a specific assignment that is based on the weakest skill we heard, or didn’t hear, in the monologue. In this type of discussion about character background and choices, which we do sitting face to face, I again discover that most of the actors cannot state their intention with an active verb. Some cannot say what response they want from the character they are speaking to. They do answer most of the other questions.
Coach: We all noticed how weak we were in stating our intentions with active verbs. For some very good information on this skill, see William Ball’s book, A Sense of Direction. You should all own it. He has a superb chapter on verbs and enhancing first choices of verbs into verbs an actor can really play. Are there questions or comments?
Alicia: Why didn’t you ask those questions about our characters a long time ago?
Coach: Because then you would be concentrating on character traits and not on learning the language skills. And your wonderful work on learning the character would be wasted because nobody would understand what you were saying.
Alex: I have to admit that I like feeling confident with the language. When we started, I didn’t feel that confidence at all.
Coach: Next time, we’ll offer our monologues and just see what we’ve accomplished. And I want you to give me your sonnets with the complete analysis so that I can see you analyze something other than one monologue. See you next time.