Summing up the work of a performer, Sanford Meisner described acting as behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances. Whether you got cast as a successful brain surgeon or a monstrous villain, chances are you will have to do some mental gymnastics to inhabit the role. How do you let go of yourself and step into the shoes of a different person? These seven acting exercises and tips will guide you through finding an answer to the question: Who is my character?
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Actor Brian Cox often uses the iceberg analogy to explain that what you read in the dialogue is only one third of what goes into the character. Before you start thinking about how to play a role, take a lateral approach and imagine the life of your character beyond what’s written in the script. Use yourself as a starting point and think about what makes you who you are. Your actions are always dictated by a long list of reasons that you mostly won’t verbalise to those around you. Find the elements that may be hidden and explore them in order to portray a multidimensional being. The historical period and context of the story is the landscape against which your character exists. Build their personal lore around it and you’ll give depth to the role.
Konstantin Stanislavsky, the Russian theatre practitioner and creator of Method acting, suggested his students start from asking seven questions:
1. Who am I?
2. Where am I?
3. What time is it?
4. What do I want?
5. Why do I want it?
6. How do I get what I want?
7. What must I overcome to get what I want?
It’s a tried-and-tested way to establish the boundaries of your role and a springboard for a broader exploration. Once you’ve gone through an early round of answering, go back to the top and expand on your first set of observations. By returning multiple times, you’ll find that the replies will inform and influence one another seamlessly, intrinsically establishing your character’s motives and rationale.
Did you know you can use science to your advantage to create your character’s emotional sphere? At the start of the 20th century, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung mapped our psychological landscape by isolating behavioural patterns. Many other practitioners developed his theory further, adding their own vision and furthering its relevance. There are now 15 recognised archetypes:
- The Caregiver
- The Creator/Artist
- The Everyman
- The Explorer
- The Hero
- The Innocent
- The Jester
- The Lover
- The Magician
- The Mentor/Sage
- The Rogue
- The Ruler
- The Seductress
- The Villian
- The Warrior
It’s highly likely your character will fit into at least one of these categories. You need to refrain from approaching these prototypes too narrowly though. Your Innocent can become an Explorer and a Seductress at different points in the plot. We suggest you use these archetypes as a starting point to dissect the foundations of your role. From there, you can assign them a personality type and explore how that addition could affect their actions and decisions.
Actors too often see what they don’t have in common with their character before identifying what they do. You may stand light-years away from the role you’re playing, with a range of experiences that clash, but you can surely find an intersection. It doesn’t matter how obvious or outlandish. It could simply be “we are both women” or “we have siblings.” That helps to develop empathy and create a bond, and it can be particularly helpful when you’re playing a difficult or unlikable part.
It’s important to remember that your character doesn’t exist in a vacuum. They will have opinions and beliefs. Their motives could be rooted in their faith or the lack thereof, or their political stances could impact how they relate to the people they meet. Each connection you draw between your character and the world around them will give you a deeper understanding of them as a being, and therefore enrich your performance. As a rule of thumb, the more aspects of your character you study and define, the more complex and complete the final result will be.
Some actors undertake a visual approach to find the identity of their character. You may be constrained by the choices of the costume department, but creative teams are often happy to foster a collaborative environment. By working on your character’s style, you will find that certain clothes and accessories can be influential in informing how your character moves. A poorly tailored suit signals a lower economic background, while an uncomfortable pair of shoes dictates how someone might walk.
Find songs that make you think of your character and make a compilation, and then find more tracks that they would personally listen to. The bigger you make your character’s world, the better you’ll be able to embody them. Coming up with a list of artists they would find inspiring makes for great characterisation.
There are many techniques for getting into character. The solo work necessary to develop a role is highly personal, so try different exercises to find what sticks. You can change your mind too. There’s no obligation to continue down an avenue that doesn’t bring you any closer to the essence of your character, but even a wrong turn could be useful and inform the bigger picture. Listen to your gut and don’t be afraid to try new things. We use the verb “playing” for a reason!