As an actor, I learned the value of experimentation and resisting immediate interpretations of a script. This open-minded approach allowed me to explore deeper meanings and emotional layers in the text, especially through techniques like the Whelan tape. Working on the dynamic between Kali and Todd, I focused on understanding their conflicted version of love and how impulses shaped their intense push-and-pull relationship. Using Chekhov’s theory of atmosphere, we stylised key moments—like the dinner scene—by incorporating red fabric and puppetry to represent the psychological tension and cycles of abuse.

Throughout rehearsals, I paid close attention to emotional shifts and how change affects all characters on stage. We explored blame, denial, and survival instincts, helping me understand Kali’s psychological entrapment. Symbolic choices like lipstick and musical cues helped externalise her inner turmoil and growing desperation. The group explored how scenes like ‘Us’ reflected an outside perspective, acting as a haunting voice of suppressed truth, ultimately showing how entangled Kali and Todd are in their delusions of love.

 

           

         

At the beginning of the process, I found it difficult to delve deeply into Kali’s characteristics. This led me to research the complexities of Stockholm syndrome and how that can leave a victim with a fascinating justification for the alienation they are faced with. My director and I drew a character bug in one of the rehearsals for her character, we thought about her perspectives, humanity, flaws, and values. I concluded she values reinforced affection and reassurance; these objectives forced me to play when rehearsing and appreciate her fully. I started to think more about her intentions and consider Mitchell’s theories of trying ‘try to see through the surface detail of the words into the thoughts or desires that are motivating those words’ (2008, p.62), which brought a sense of Kali’s objective to life, to feel complete in a world where love and danger is exciting. Our director wanted us to execute this by playing with the beats of the script, creating that tonal shift for the most climactic moment of the scene, ‘Where was this?’ (Stockholm, 2007). I shook a shaker that grew increasingly rapid to show Kali’s frustration while also moulding when she attacked; these actions, we thought appeared to be a cyclical pattern of destruction, we had never seen this side of her before. Previously, our understanding of Kali was limited to her self-destructive tendencies. However, as we witnessed emotions guiding her from seduction, to remorse, we came to recognise that her weakness lies in her capacity for forgiveness and compassion toward Todd. In rehearsals, trying this melodramatically helped bring my character out, and on performance day the adrenaline evoked my commitment to certain choices and built my confidence.

 

Bibliography

Mitchell, K. (2008) The director’s craft: a handbook for the theatre. London: Routledge

Stockholm by B. Lavery (2007)

Details

Written by: Kimberley Gomersall

Category: Acting

Demystifying the monologue: Finding your character

Katie Mitchell

“Building an imaginary world for the actors to inhabit using ingredients from real life and circumstance suggested by the text itself”

 

What clues does the text give us about who they are and where they are?

 

WHERE?

• Where are they?
• Are they in a place where they feel comfortable?
• Make a conscious decision:
  • Alter how you stand
  • How u breathe
  • Whether you’re leaving
  • Body language – stops you from fidgeting
  • Make sure movements are necessary - don’t put yourself into it, it’s your character
• Do they know the place?
• Is it new?
• Have they seen this room before?
  • If not, this helps with eye-line - will they be looking around?
  • How comfortable are they in the space?
  • This helps movement in the scene
• Don’t fight against the environment you’re in
• Settle in the room

 

WHAT?

• What’s just happened immediately before we see them?
• Do they know what’s next? - gives a more rounded characterisation
• Read the piece - understand the character
• Do they let words hang? – Where are they from?
• What’s the energy on - where are they about to go?
• What do they want out of this?
• What do they expect to happen?
• Is it realistic? - changes the way that they’re talking or to whoever they’re speaking to

 

HOW?

• How do they choose to express themselves?
• Are they very gesticulating?
• Do they ask questions?
• Do my expressions suit my character?
• Are they direct?
• Do they change tactics?
• Are they manipulative? – This is important
• What tactics are they employing?
• Is the pace Fricative?
• Do they choose to keep their hand by their sides?
• Do they evoke a reaction? (through how they speak or relate to the other person)
• Are they needling them for answers?
• Do they want a response? - How do they do that?
• What’s the tempo?
• Anecdote - decide for which line
• Are they professional?
• Do they have a slower pace of thinking or breathing?

 

WHO?

• Who are they?
• What’s their truth?
• How they feel
• What do we know has already happened?
• Are they in control?
• How do they express, move and speak?
• Choice of words - measured, running out of ideas
• Who are they speaking to?
• Is it a soliloquy?
• Are they working it out for themselves?
• Changes how we move, breathe & speak
• Creating idiosyncrasies for ourselves

 

WHY?

• Why now?
• What’s changed?
• Why are they speaking?
• What has happened that’s led them to speak?
• What hasn’t been said before?
• Have they chosen a place?
• How have they chosen these words?
• Do they know what they’re about to say? Or has something snapped, what’s changed? - does it pour out uncontrollably
• Is it manipulative? Should we share a burden?
• Why this piece?

Why have you chosen this? Relate it to who you are.

This helps to get over a hurdle and revisit to show how far you’ve come

 

Creative Character Work Tips!

• Warmups are IMPORTANT
• Meditation/physical exercise
• Understand what the script is about
• Does it relate to your circumstance or past?

Preparation is key …

• Learning lines:
  • Use colours that match the scene
  • Progressing lines

Character research …

• Watching people
• YouTube videos
• Movies
• Theatre
  • Copy across what they do
• Reenact each other
• Embrace own uniqueness

Objectives and actions:

• Who am I?
• What do I want?
• What do you want in this scene?

Objective …

• Is there something you want
  • Be clear about this in a scene.
  • Remind yourself - What’s their intention?
• Example:
  • Objective - “I want to kiss you”
  • Action - flirt, seduce or comfort.

Action …

• Transitive verbs - doing words
• Generally, conflict
• Protagonist that wants something
• Antagonised to stop someone from getting it - creates tension
• Important to take/have action - we are always trying to do something to someone
• Argument - prove something
• Happy - entertain someone maybe
• “I” and “you” fill in something as a transitive verb
  • For example: Happy emotion - “ I ENTERTAIN you”
  • This brings clarity into the scene.

Changing characters

• Physical embodiment
• Physical with gestures, voice and accents

Movement

• Body language is around 70% of communication
• We communicate more with our bodies and energy than we do with our words

TV - you’ve got a whole realistic, live background, filming in a location

Stage - a bit more expressive, larger than life; we must protect more, but ends of words

• Get breath from your stomach, from Sternum/stomach expands diaphragm and travel up so you can project – semi-supine position before every show
• Projects safely with more volume
• Everyone needs to see our intentions and actions through movement
• Work with animal studies that have different energies
  • Kids (Dog)- higher pitch voice, physicality is quite small,  run around, make quick gestures so move around more
  • Dad (Gorilla) - slow pace in their movements, tiger-like presence, very authoritative, kind of tall and strong and upbeat
• Does it read on stage?
• Clear on your diction, the audience needs to understand the ends of sentences
• Make sure energy doesn’t dip
• If there’s a short scene, we can sometimes just tend to shout as if it’s an argument and raise the volume – it’s better to increase the pitch rather than the volume because pitch gives nuance, plays with the tone of the pitch and pace, emphasise words
• Put a line after the end of thought - this shows the character has a new thought
  • Potentially play a new action on this next thought
  • Play the next line a different way
  • Keeps work varied and nuanced

Rehearsal process

• Finding your character
• It’s okay to be nervous!!!
• Being nervous is a good thing and it shows that you care about your work
• You want to do a good job
• Important to be compassionate in the rehearsal room- be kind to your peers
• Try new things
• It’s vulnerable to be creative and expressive but this helps you step outside the box
• Try not to worry in the rehearsal room – it doesn’t matter if you look like an idiot or are too big with gestures or overplaying it – it’s a part of the creative process
• It’s always better to overplay and be larger than life
• There will be times when you’ll be like “ooh that doesn’t work” but at least I tried it
• Rehearsal rooms are a space to get things wrong
  • Try new objectives
  • New actions
  • New physicality
  • Be bigger and listen to the director - then there will be a middle-ground
  • This is where the character comes to life in a truthful way
• Do not judge anyone

Allow your peers to truly express themselves

Details

Written by: Kimberley Gomersall

Category: Acting

Audition Process for University

• Must be made through UCAS
• Personal statement

Self-Tape

Shakespeare Piece:

• Don’t worry if you haven’t explored Shakespeare!
• The approach is the same as any other monologue
• Watch productions – Globe Player, Digital Theatre+, YouTube etc.

Contemporary Piece:

• Choose a piece within your age rage
• Be brave with impulses
• I would suggest recording 3 times and picking the best – Don’t overdo it!

Short song:

• Sing a song which gives you the most characterisation through song

Outcomes – 2-3 Weeks – Recall – Waiting List

Recall in-person audition:

• Have a headshot!
• Be prepared to have an interview – but don’t spend too much time thinking about the right thing to say. They want to meet you, not the version you think they want you to be.
• Wear comfy clothes – preferably black as it is neat
• Write a personal statement involving your interests
• Dance and physical movement
• Contextualise your script
• Revisit your self-tape pieces – may be asked to do a different one – Be prepared.

Things I learnt:

• It is a competitive industry – People who have had more training may seem slightly further ahead, but not always – Try your best!
• People who are able to develop take criticism – It’s the process

 

Your Monologue

• What is the tone?
• Who are you?
• Where are we?
• What’s the relationship?
• What is the drive of the conversation?

Spend a lot on the 1st and last line. The impact

How to find shifts in the monologue:

• Where am I directing my energy
• Pick a monologue which is when you’re speaking to a character

You:

• Pick a monologue you enjoy doing
• Pick a speech that sparks joy (especially with contemporary

Inspiration:

• Watch performances from:
  • National Theatre
  • Digital Theatre +

 

Details

Written by: Kimberley Gomersall

Category: Acting

The Whelan Tape Technique

Step 1: Get a monologue or scene. 

 

Step 2: Prepare to record.

 

Step 3: First recording:

Actors record a scene onto tape, without emotion or interpretation.

• The actors must say the words normally in the recording – Don’t act.
• Tape is played back whilst the actors 'act out' the scene.
• Act the scene without saying the words.
• You can see the emotion and drive of the scene by walking around the space, not saying the words but hearing the recording in the background.
• First reading - only make simple choices like moving to or away from another character.
• Impulse – the actors respond in the moment.
• Be bold with impulse.
  • Impulse shouldn’t be about showing the audience what is happening. 
  • Don’t just impulse – what is the intention?
• The director should be making notes - but keeping the ideas away from the actors so the imagination is free.

 

Step 4: Record the same material again: 

Actors record a second reading of the scene allowing it to be affected by their impulses from the previous enactment.

• Don’t fall in love with what you did the first time – it is a mistake to feel satisfied with the first image (2003, p. 40)
• The scene is played out to the tape, but the actor is encouraged to make bigger emotional choices.

 

Step 5: Record again:

The process is repeated but this time all the actors copy the actions of the speaker.

• You may find a tiny bit of expression recorded in the script. 
• The director should tell the actors to tone it down - don’t speed up too much - no interpretation. 
• Gives the effect of watching a shoal of fish.

 

Step 6: Record again:

This is where the actors start to be more experimentative and enact using everything they’ve learnt so far.

• Mirroring movements
• Bold choices
• Don’t be explicitly obvious in what you’re doing as it is cringe (e.g. point to the stars in the sky)
• Guard the concentration - stay present - don’t apologise to the audience - don’t feel sorry for yourself!

 

Step 7: Record again:

This time the director gets to pause the run.

• The director can pause the tape when they see something interesting, and the actor must stick with the emotional choice they have made.
• The actors must radiate when the pause occurs - do not stop!
  • Radiating means continuing the acting that is happening but there is no text - you should always do this as it gives out performance energy.
  • Don’t withhold any impulse!
  • Allow the impulses to happen – you’re not consciously trying to make it monotone. 
• This is when the actor can find what we find interesting in gesture (this normally goes bad) - a sense of doing too much acting.
  • Having fewer gestures can be much better when it is simpler. 

 

Step 8: Actors Recite the whole thing.

The final stage is where the text and action are married for the first time.

• By the time you come to do the lines you virtually know them
• Quite often you find yourself not knowing what the text is, but your body remembers to turn to look at someone, which prompts your memory.
• We use this technique for every scene in the play - there is no discussion about what any given scene is about - no interpretation just constant play.
• There is no good or bad at this stage - rehearsals are about discovery.
  • Phelim says if we were to say something was good then we would be encouraged to do it again - this would stop us from remaining open, playful, and inventive.
  • He will not block anything - the audience will tell us what works.

 

Experimentation within the recordings:

Repel – the actors move away from each other.

Impel -  the actors move towards the other. 

Compel – the actors remain at the same distance. 

 

Index the context of the scene

• Give the scene a name – (describing the whole scene)
• Breakdown the text:
  • Go through all the events – What happens? What are the characters’ intentions?
  • Find evidence (a solid opinion) of what is happening.
  • Events help you structure the play to create meaningful units - a clear sense of the point (these are necessary). The actor then has the freedom to play with text.
  • Look for turning points in the script.

• How you enter a room shows the effects of the scene 
• A subject change isn’t a change of event or an event.
  • If two characters have the same intention the scene doesn’t work
  • Emotions and intentions aren’t the same thing – the character can be looking at something with a different emotion that is “normal”.

Now the time to experiment …

Phelim’s theatrical language – The Natural World

‘Everything must have a movement quality or must change from one to another’ (Scheinmann, 1977)

Moulding – Earth

• Actors move as if the air is thick.

Radiating – Fire

• The actor thinks of an image.
• This gives performance energy into the space.
• This is where a feeling of heart from the chest radiates into the space.

Floating - Water

• Perform as if your body is floating.
• The air is light and supports the body.

Flying – Air

• Perform as if your body is pushed by the wind like a plastic bag.
• Movement is quick and there are many changes of focus.

 

Phelim noted …

Atmosphere

• Take movement into an atmosphere of doubt or reunion or virtually anything.
• Air is filled with quality, and you must respond accordingly.

Game Playing

• Games and movement qualities provide the parameters within which we are to have total freedom to improvise (in class, we played physical games like ‘two-step.’)
• So long as the actors enter a shared atmosphere where they watch, listen, and respond to each other - anything will work.
• There are no mistakes - we must respond to whatever happens as if it were meant to happen.

 

Bibliography

Chamberlain, F. (2003) Michael Chekhov. London: Routledge

Scheinmann, D. (1977). Shakespeare, Stilts & Sticky Tape | Total Theatre Magazine Print Archive. (Online) Available at http://totaltheatre.org.uk/archive/features/shakespeare-stilts-sticky-tape. Stockholm by B. Lavery (2007)

 

 

Details

Written by: Kimberley Gomersall

Category: Acting

• Acting

Details

Written by: Kimberley Gomersall

Category: Acting