Acting Mastery: Top 3 Frequently Asked Questions About Characterisation

How to Create Consistently Fulfilling Performances?

Having consistent successful performances all the time can feel challenging,

Are you waiting for the perfect moment?

Anne Frank said, “How wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a moment before starting to improve the world.”

That’s incredibly insightful for a child. And you know what? She was right. We don’t need to wait a moment to improve ourselves or the world.

If we wait for the “perfect moment,” you can bet it will never come. Life gets in the way, and we create more excuses, and our goals keep getting shoved to the back burner. So forget about waiting for the perfect moment to begin because that moment is

NOW…

I don’t think I need to tell you that having consistently successful performances all the time can feel challenging, even impossible. Many of us were happy with assuming that we would never get there. There are so many moving parts that it can all get overwhelming, especially when you are head driven and don’t learn to Master the Craft from the standpoint of your heart.

You might have questions about Method Acting, Characterisation, Improv, Imagination, Subtext, Character growth and expansion, portraying emotions truthfully, spontaneous creations and the various techniques you can employ for Acting Craft Mastery.

It’s easy to get stuck or miss the necessary steps.

If any of this sounds familiar, you’ll be glad to read this.

Here are the top 3 Frequently Asked Acting Mastery for Characterisation-

Characterisation

Characterisation questions help you understand how creating limitlessly in a powerful, fulfilling and impacting way can become second nature while simultaneously being the most fulfilling job and your best night/day out. We know how much we love what we do, and it doesn’t feel like working.

Question: What is the best way to use Improv for Character growth?

Answer: Many Actors ask this question because improv is used vastly in Acting, yet seldom is it specifically used in a focused manner for Character development.

When approaching improv for Character development, there are many techniques you can use. To develop your Character in terms of the outward essence and appearance, you create your Character’s physicality by improvising how they behave within their environment using imagination and emotional detail.

To experience Character growth and expansion, you create their background and explore their emotional journey employing your imagination. Placed your Character in their past in improvisation, and you improvise their history to create depth.

Most Actors’ mistake with improv is feeling compelled to use words in their improvisations. Which leads to wanting to sound exciting and ultimately making it about “clever words”. This defeats the purpose because it only leads to head-driven performances, and the mind becomes the biggest stumbling block.

For improv to be practical, it must be heartfelt at the moment. Spontaneous and heart-driven. You do and say what you feel in the moment.

Question: What is the Fastest Way to get into Character?

Answer: There are many ways to achieve this. Here are my top three methods of technique.

Character’s History/Background

Exercise/Focus/Relaxation/ Meditation: Create an Image in your head. An image that details your Character’s story and background. Set that image in their space and watch what happens; more images will arise. Watch these images as they appear and feel what they mean and represent. Look at the pictures with your heart and explore the emotional journey you experience. Take as long as you need. After you finish, insert yourself inside this picture, see it forming around you and begin your performance or improvisation. Your Character arises strong, with added depth. It can take you as little as 30 seconds. But feel free to spend several hours with this exercise if you fancy.

Note: When you do the exercise again to develop your character further, do not copy or imitate what you did last time. Let the images continue to flow.

Character’s Archetype Trigger

Exercise/Physical Theatre: Choose the Archetype for your Character. Choose the three main Attributes of the Archetype which you want to express through your Character. Now

determine a trigger for each of those attributes. A trigger can be a gesture, a feeling or an image that gives you inner impulses which express or represent the attribute you want to portray. Envelope yourself in these attributes by doing/expressing these triggers and feeling them with your heart. Feel the spurs settle at your Character’s core. Then proceed with your performance, improv or rehearsal.

Character’s Emotional Journey Dance: Inner Impulse Through Movement/Exercise/Physical Theatre:

Here, you will first learn about the emotional journey of your Character, and you will continue by expressing that emotional journey through your body movement alone. You create a freestyle choreography that allows you to communicate the inner impulses offered by the Character’s emotional journey through your body. This will enable you to ground the emotional journey physically. Fully submerge in the arising of your choreography. Then proceed with your performance after the Dance/Movement exercise.

Question: I find that my Character work is unpredictable sometimes; I seem to do great, and my character development flows; other times, I get very stuck and don’t know where to go. How can I ensure that the process always flows?

Answer: Overthinking leads to stagnation. The desire to control and the lack of trust in your abilities will likely get you stuck. Trust is a choice. You actively allow your Genius to arise when you trust. Learn to create, express, and work through your heart. Stop relying on your head.

Creativity is heart-driven. Think of Creation as a spontaneous natural flow. You are a co-creator and a channel for creativity. Stay in the flow; it is where you belong. Flow is you natural state. Practice letting go by staying more self-aware. Practice Makes Mastery.

Question: How can I stop overthinking and doubting myself while portraying a specific character?

Answer: This is a significant question. Method Acting Techniques and Acting Mastery Coaching aims at providing the tools the Actor needs to begin to create freely and limitlessly.

To gain instant freedom and stop overthinking or doubting, focus on

Your body and how it feels while performing. Then endeavour to direct the energy from your heart to your body and express your creativity with your whole being. The mind has no role. The mind did the work needed when assessing and researching the character.

Let your body experience the expression of your Character fully.

By staying present and in the moment, your body becomes the outlet of your Art and not your mind.

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