This is a great character development exercise to practise once you’ve got the fundamentals out of the way and are looking to expand upon your character's deeper psychological profile. As well as being suitable for actors, I would recommend this to writers as well, as it can be very fruitful when trying to establish the motivations driving a character’s actions.
First, I asked cast members to get into the mind-set of their characters. Then, one by one, they came up to the front of the rehearsal room and took a seat in the ‘therapist’s chair’. I played therapist and asked questions, making notes on what was being said so we could share and discuss the responses in more detail afterwards. The rules were that each individual session would last for a minimum of three minutes, during which they could say as much or as little as they liked.
The key to creating detail (or rather ‘unlocking’ it) in this exercise is for the person playing therapist to ask questions which are as open-ended as possible, and encourage a long response, such as: ‘What’s on your mind?’ ‘What’s brought you here today?’ etc.
And the fewer questions asked, the better. To break the silence, the character will often dig deeper for something to say, and uncover even more information about themselves. Sometimes, asking a question you don’t necessarily need to can interrupt this process.
When you hit upon a certain point of interest, it’s good to get the characters to expand on that with other questions such as: ‘Why do you think that is?’ ‘And do you do or say X because you enjoy it or because you feel like you have to?’
The responses were incredibly useful for the cast in determining why their creations act the way they do, but also for me, who at this point was still in the process of writing the script.
Without giving too much away, here are a few snippets of what was discussed:
Marrielle at first gushed about how her fiancé was never home and always putting work first, but the deeper issue was of course the professional life she’d given up for him, along with her depleted feelings of self-worth and independence.
Chubb talked about the how his apparent nonchalance was his way of exerting power, and how he was scared of losing ground with another character now that he had some competition.
Spud was his usual chatty self, and (although you got the impression throughout that not all of what he was saying was entirely true) behind his actions was a survival instinct brought on by a hard upbringing, and the tragic death of a close relative.
Underneath Street’s scammery was a desperate desire to be good.
Behind Honest's dedication to his job was a desire to do right by his future wife, and to have a positive impact on the professional lives of those working underneath him.
From the start, Dunnigan looked to take control of the doctor-patient dynamic, as you would expect him to, by only answering the questions he wanted to answer.
And while Culler did open up a little, she was wary of showing any sort of emotion, and didn’t want to go into much detail.
(And that’s all I can say without spoiling anything.)
If you still haven’t bought your ticket for Honest yet, you can do so here.
First, I asked cast members to get into the mind-set of their characters. Then, one by one, they came up to the front of the rehearsal room and took a seat in the ‘therapist’s chair’. I played therapist and asked questions, making notes on what was being said so we could share and discuss the responses in more detail afterwards. The rules were that each individual session would last for a minimum of three minutes, during which they could say as much or as little as they liked.
The key to creating detail (or rather ‘unlocking’ it) in this exercise is for the person playing therapist to ask questions which are as open-ended as possible, and encourage a long response, such as: ‘What’s on your mind?’ ‘What’s brought you here today?’ etc.
And the fewer questions asked, the better. To break the silence, the character will often dig deeper for something to say, and uncover even more information about themselves. Sometimes, asking a question you don’t necessarily need to can interrupt this process.
When you hit upon a certain point of interest, it’s good to get the characters to expand on that with other questions such as: ‘Why do you think that is?’ ‘And do you do or say X because you enjoy it or because you feel like you have to?’
The responses were incredibly useful for the cast in determining why their creations act the way they do, but also for me, who at this point was still in the process of writing the script.
Without giving too much away, here are a few snippets of what was discussed:
Marrielle at first gushed about how her fiancé was never home and always putting work first, but the deeper issue was of course the professional life she’d given up for him, along with her depleted feelings of self-worth and independence.
Chubb talked about the how his apparent nonchalance was his way of exerting power, and how he was scared of losing ground with another character now that he had some competition.
Spud was his usual chatty self, and (although you got the impression throughout that not all of what he was saying was entirely true) behind his actions was a survival instinct brought on by a hard upbringing, and the tragic death of a close relative.
Underneath Street’s scammery was a desperate desire to be good.
Behind Honest's dedication to his job was a desire to do right by his future wife, and to have a positive impact on the professional lives of those working underneath him.
From the start, Dunnigan looked to take control of the doctor-patient dynamic, as you would expect him to, by only answering the questions he wanted to answer.
And while Culler did open up a little, she was wary of showing any sort of emotion, and didn’t want to go into much detail.
(And that’s all I can say without spoiling anything.)
If you still haven’t bought your ticket for Honest yet, you can do so here.
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