Expert: Wanda Reinholdt - 12/19/2007

Question
Hello! My name is Holly Hagerty, and I live in Maryland, and I'm in a theatre class at my school. We're putting on a version of The Poet and the Rent by David Marnet, I was wondering if you could help me with some character development? And, you know.. stage presence. I'm kind of shy. I can read my lines, it's just, I can't make them very different from just lines. If you can, I'm playing a thief, Gene. He's one of a duo- the other is Boots. There isn't any specific character written in, that is to say, no angle to play the character from. Gene and Boots have a lot of back and forth dialouge, very Meisner. Their dialouge is almost a bit absurdist "Where's the flashlight/I don't know/Use the match/I gave up smoking/You did?/Yeah, I just made up my mind and did it/Oh, I wish I could give it up.. got a match?/Gave it up/Then turn on a light" kind of exchanges. (THAT was probably annoying to read, all slashed!) I mean, if you have any ideas how a thief could be played, there's really no limit to the possibility, and I just thought maybe you'd have some good ideas? If not, that's perfectly fine. Thanks for your time, and happy holidays!
Holly

Answer
Hi Holly.  Thanks for writing and congrats on the role :)  And  Merry Christmas to you:)  I wish you a meaningful one.  

I will try to help you with some character development.  It is a little more difficult by computer but that is ok.  We will give it a shot :).  I apologize for how long this might get in advance but I think that if I move through the whole text that you gave me that you might get a better idea of what I mean.

The first thing that comes to mind is that you are trying to make the lines say something when in reality it is more important for you to look at the text from the persepctive of dramatic action.  

So, have you read the whole play?  It is essential that you know the whole story before you look at your role.  Because you will understand the role you are playing in the story much better if you have read it.

Once you have read it, now you need to ask yourself what is the text saying. What is the point of the text that your character is saying?  What action verb can you use to describe what they are doing?  As an actor you always want to think in terms of verbs and they need to be verbs that can be acted.  For instance, pleading.  Or hiding.  Or making fun of.  

Each line is indicating an action verb.  Each line of your text indicates whether or not the action verb has changed or if you have moved to a new action.  In other words, usually a character is trying to take a certain action for a section of a play and then in the next section they are taking another action.  If you look at your text carefully, you should be able to pinpoint when the action changes.

Once you understand the verb, then keep the verb in your mind when you are rehearsing and try to do that with the text you are saying and with the actions you are doing with your body.  

It's important that you not think of what a typical thief would do.  Look more at the text and think about what this PARTICULAR thief is doing based on what the text says.  Even if it is not obvious, the text can give you clues as to what is going on underneath it all.

So in the text that you wrote out for me (which I did not mind at all :)) let's take a look at it together (keeping in mind that I do not know the story at all - you should know the whole story before you begin this):

"Where's the flashlight"  - Ok, from this text, you know first that a flashlight usually was handy (that they came with one or had one near) and we know that it is dark.  They are somewhere dark.  Usually when it is dark, you are trying to find your way.  Maybe that's your verb - feeling your way.

"I don't know" - From this text, we can tell that they are having trouble finding their way.  It's not easy.  So I think our verb works well so far.

"Use a match" - Hmmm...Now this tells us a little more.  Obviously the character who is saying this knows the other person carries matches usually.  So maybe they are friends?   And the person who is to have a match maybe is a smoker.  So you could probably create a little character based on this - coughing or raspy voice or something like that.  Other than this character ideas though, I think feeling our way as a verb is still working.

"I gave up smoking" - Oh.  Well, now we know that the person  who once carried matches quit smoking.  Ok.  So that is another obstacle in their trying to find their way.  (This could be quite a funny scene.)  So they are still feeling their way.

"You did?" - We can tell that these 2 people in this scene maybe know each other but they are not necessarily close.  They don't know everything about each other.  Our verb feeling their way is still working.

"Yeah, I just made up my mind and did it." - This tells us that the person who gave up smoking can make good choices.  They made a change in their life.  That's a pretty decent change.  But it does not help them to find a light in this instance.  Bad timing.  That's pretty funny stuff.  They are still finding or feeling their way.

"Oh, I wish I could give it up...got a match?" - This tells us that for some reason, this guy did not hear what the other guy said about quitting smoking.  He got caught up in something.  Obviously, he is trying to find his way and got distracted by how hard it is to find his way that he missed the important information that there are not matches.  They are still feeling their way.

"Then turn on a light" - After all that, there's a light?  Funny stuff!  Will they find the light?

So does that help you see how you look at text and pick out the dramatic action?  Deciding what the text is saying and/or what is underneath the text can help you experiment and play.

I hope this helps.

Wanda