Character creation exercises

We have learnt variety of techniques during our first term doing theatre. Here is what I have learnt...
Research
 It is important that you research the character and the play , you need to look at the social, political, cultural and  historical background. By doing the research it makes the play believable and there for makes your character more believable within the play.  Reading books about the period, looking on the internet, finding photos and reading articles from the time, are all good ways of finding out this information.  You need to find out where your character has come from and what kind of environment it was.  It is vital that you do this because it helps you to make your performance more convincing. Doing research on the time period really helps, as you can find out the given circumstances of your character. It is so much easier when you understand the play's background and environment. Once you know this you can begin to shape your character around the play. Everything you find out will add to the depth in which you play your character.

Hot Seating

Hot seating is where you sit in a chair as your character and answer questions from other people. you have to answer as you think your character would. I think it is a useful exercise because it helps you think about elements of your character, that maybe you hadn't considered before. you may feel vulnerable whilst doing it, but that helps as all good actors need to be able to feel vulnerable. 

Creating Previous Scenes
 Creating a previous scene to the scene that you are playing helps you to get into the mind-set of the character. If you have an idea of what your character has been saying or doing before the begging of the scene it will help you to portray your character more realistically. I found it an enjoyable and productive performance, and now when I  perform my scene I find it much easier to get into my character.

3 line scenes

We did an exercise where we had to perform our scenes, but only using three lines, all consisting of three to four words, that summed up the thoughts or feelings of our characters. This was an effective exercise because you have to use your objectives to get across to the audience what you would have usually done with you lines. I really enjoyed the exercise, but I really had to work hard to keep my three lines very short and to use you body language to show how my character is feeling, which is something that doesn't come naturally to me.

Working on a prescribed set

Working on a prescribed set is when you are given a set that you perform on. It will already have the right furniture and props on it. You have to play around with your scene so that it fits with the set and the things in it. I found it really helpful to work on the set, because it helps to develop your scene and have a better understanding of the character's environment.