Unit
3 - Character
Module
3: Developing Character
Lesson
1 - Working Externally (Biography)
Introduction:
The purpose of these activities is to help students to
express the script of the monologue in a variety of physical
ways, and to help students learn to establish personal details
about characters they play.
| Note:
You are building towards a performance piece with the
script written in the previous module, and the character
to be developed in this module. Remember to look back
to your script if unsure how to proceed with your character.
Work done on character in the next 4 lessons may lead
them back to your script for revisions. |
Activities:
Activity
1 - Warm Up
25 Ways to Use a Chair - help everyone expand their thinking
using improvisation and responding to impulse.
Place
chairs in a circle, one for each person. Each person sits
in a chair as a character type. Freeze in attitude and physical
position for the character. Use only your head to move and
look at everyone else - how do you read who they are? What
assumptions can you make from looking at them?
Then
everyone gets up, moves to a new chair and assumes a new
character. Repeat the exercise until each person has made
a character for each chair in the circle. As they continue
the activity and begin to run out of ideas, encourage them
to use the chair in different ways, get creative with the
chair. It can be a car, a jail, a coat - free up ideas.
Activity
2 - Developing Character through working Externally
There are different methods you might use to develop a character.
As always though, the actor must return to the source of the
work – the script. You must first understand the script
in order to build a full picture of the character.
Complete a character biography based on external qualities.
You may not find it useful to answer every question –
choose the ones which best apply to the situation.
(pdf) External Biography
sheet
Physical
& External Qualities:
Name
Age
Race/Culture
Social Status
Occupation
Marital Status
Family Relationships
Children or Siblings
Appearance: style of clothing and hair
Posture
Type of Movements
Mannerisms |
Imagine
other aspects of
your characters' lives:
Where do they live?
What kind of car do they drive?
What do they do in their spare time?
Where was their last vacation?
Do they give to charities? Or volunteer?
How do they see themselves?
How do other people see them?
|
Activity 3 - Mini-Guided Imaging
Listen to the script your teacher reads and follow
the instructions.
Activity
4 - The Mental Monologue:
Sit a moment in silence and think about the monologue. Where
does it take place? What are the physical actions that happen?
Walk through it in your mind.
Do the entire monologue without words, use only your physical
movements to express what is taking place. Work through how
to express the feelings of the piece without words. Do not
try to mime actual words or phrases of the monologue –
express the essence of the piece.
Activity 5 - Neutral Mask:
Use a neutral mask (covers the face and offers no expression)
if possible for this exercise. If a neutral mask is not available,
try to keep the face as expressionless as possible. The actor
must rely upon the body to convey meaning. To prepare this
scene, you must think about the monologue in terms of essential
moments. Break it down into the most important elements for
expression. Prepare the monologue in neutral mask as a silent
scene for the class to watch. Can they understand what you
are trying to express? What is needed for clarity?
|
|
Talking
Circle:
Answer one of these three questions:
• How did it feel to wear the neutral mask (or to
use no facial expression at all)?
• How did it look as audience?
• What do you have to focus on?
|
Evaluation:
The teacher may mark class participation. Biographies may
be included in the journal, or in the monologue mark during
final presentation.
