Believe in your Character

Hey Everyone!!

Last week I talked all about how to 'create' your character.  Now that you have created your character it's time to face one of the biggest hurdles for new and veteran actors ... making your character believable.  Your goal is to enhance the believability of a character so that the audience 'gets it'.  You have to be able to be prepared by developing mental and physical techniques prior to entering a scene.

Prior to the life of any character in a scene onstage, there is a life offstage. For example, in Next to Normal, Diana (the mother) is suffering from Bipolar disorder and has been hallucinating, seeing her son, Gabe.  She has just been told that he is dead, and has been dead for 16 years.  She is now entering a scene and trying to deal with the fact that her son is not here.


Mrs. Sarnoski and I had the pleasure of meeting Alice Ripley, Tony Award Winning Best Actress for Next to Normal, on Good Morning America a few months ago.  Alice would stand off stage and prepare herself for the upcoming scene.  She would recall tragedy's in her life and when she appeared on stage would be completely upset and out-of-sorts.

Another example, in Macbeth, the bloody sergeant who has been seriously wounded in battle runs onstage and tells the story of how "brave Macbeth" killed the leader of the rebel forces, Macdonwald. He tries to continue, but due to exhaustion and loss of blood, he faints and is carried away. Before entering the stage, the bloody sergeant has not only been wounded and is losing blood, he has been traveling by foot for miles and miles. He is exhausted and in need of medical attention.

Sir Alec Guinness, early in his career, played the bloody sergeant and kept in mind the prior experience of his character. Just minutes before his entrance, he literally ran around the theatre, and approximately 30 seconds prior to his entrance, he would continue to run in the wings of the theatre. When his cue came, Sir Alec ran in and literally collapsed at the feet of the actor playing Malcolm, and proceeded to tell his story as he gasped for breath, completely relating to his character’s pains.

Sometimes the best way to convincingly appear to be exhausted and out of breath is to actually be exhausted and out of breath! When the actual physical conditions can’t be replicated—as, for example, when a character is cold but the theatre is warm—mental preparation can be substituted. By developing an awareness of your own particular physical sensations during situations such as cold, heat, pain, etc., you can learn to recreate those sensations through a sort of meditative preparation process.

Think about your character in Bye Bye Birdie.  How will you enter a scene?  Are you entering in excitement of Conrad Birdie's presence?  Are you mad at that mama's boy, Albert?  Is Conrad going to kiss your steady?

Break a Leg,

Mr. Ferriero

Watch the Good Morning America Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QXX_ggsrio