The future of the character

I've said before how important it is to use Stanislavsky's methods of using your emotional memory to become the character but this is in terms of being in the moment. As well as knowing your character's past and present, you must know what they want for the future. Don't get mistaken for knowing what is going to happen to your character, but more about what your character's goals are, what they want in life, who they want to see etc.

Here's a quick, fun exercise you can do to help you think about your characters future:

Make up a character; give it some given circumstances, who are you, what have you done before now, who is your family, who means the most to you, what have you done recently?

Now place yourself in a prison. You have committed a crime. What is the crime?

You have fifteen minutes of time in the exercise yard. What will you do? How physically fit are you? Do you like the time in the yard? You cannot speak to anyone.

With the last five minutes of the time, you can do what ever you want. What is the first thing you want to do? You cannot speak to anyone during this time or you will be shot by an armed guard.

You find out that some letters have arrived at the prison. Is one for you? How will you react if you have a letter? What does it say? Who is it from? Who did you want it to be from? How do you feel? What if you didn't get a letter? What is your reaction? 

You are allowed to write to your loved one. Take 3 minutes to write everything down what you want to say to this person. How are you feeling? What is on your chest? Are you sorry? 

You hear that half of the prison are going to be freed. How do you feel? What will you feel like if you are freed? How will you feel if you have to stay in the prison? Who do you want to see the most?

Doing this makes you realised how much you look into the future without realising. You need to know your goals for the character to blossom. Do this for other characters that you are playing. Find out what they want from the events or people in the play. What is there ultimate goal? Do they reach their goal?

Sorry again that this is a short one! But it is really effective! I love this which is why I've posted it! If you have any comments on the exercise or want more information, please comment below, or email me at sophiimaria@gmail.com or tweet me at @SophiiMaria