Character, Environment, and Situational Analysis in Musical Theatre
As my musical theatre performers know, we put a strong emphasis on creating authentic characters who exist in fully imagined environments. While it is crucial to sing physically well, it is also vitally important that the audience (and directors for whom you audition) believe you. In order to create a believable performance, you have to really step inside of a character’s shoes and see through their eyes. In our studio, we work with three sets analyses: Character, Environment, and Situation.
CHARACTER: This first analysis set helps you to flesh out your character on the physical, psychological, sociological, and relationship levels. Performers need to create a full life for their characters — even making up details about their life (consistent with the person the writer has fashioned) — so that actions, mannerisms, and vocalizations all come from the character’s core. Here are the aspects of the character to consider:
PHYSICAL ASPECTS:
gender
age
height and weight
color of eyes, hair, and skin
voice quality (loud/soft)
posture (straight/hunched)
rhythm (fast/slow)
style of clothes
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS:
ambitions/goals
talents/hobbies
frustrations/disappointments
general attitude
prejudices (if any)
religion (if any)
temperament (pick 1 of each pair (or explain combo further))
easy-going or nervous
optimistic or pessimistic
outgoing or shy
talkative or quiet
insecure or confident
devious or angelic
SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECTS:
education
amount
favorite/least favorite subjects?
occupation
like/dislike?
place in community (high/medium/low)
INTERPERSONAL ASPECTS: Explore…
thier relationship to their parents
their parents’ relationship to each other
the size of the family
their relationship to their siblings
their relationship to friends
a significant-other relationship
their relationship to their coworkers
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ENVIRONMENT: This second analysis set helps the performer to experience the environment with which the character is interacting. As people, we are constantly influenced by our environments, as we often momentarily highlight different aspects of our personalities in different environments. Being able to feel and see your character’s environment and interact with it (even without any set) shows depth of understanding and adds authenticity. Here are some aspects of the environment to consider:
Season
Chronological time
month, day, year
Geographical location
city, state, country
specific site
Input to the senses
temperature
colors
amount of light
smells
sights
tastes
textures/touch
sounds
How does your character feel about being in their environment?
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SITUATIONAL: The final set of analyses covers the BIG FOUR questions in acting and examines what is actively happening in a scene or a song. The Big Four Questions are:
What is your character’s Objective (What do they want)?
What is their Motivation (Why do they want it)?
What are their Actions (How do they get it)?
When considering this, it is important to break up the song/scene into segments and then identify what action (or tactic) is being used in each one. For example, the second verse of a song will likely have a different tactics than the first verse of a song, even though both tactics are intended to get the character to their objective.
What are the Obstacles?
It’s also good to consider who the character is talking to, as well as to dive into the Previous Action (what just happened to the character directly before this scene/song).
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Putting in the time to analyze your character, environment, and situation this way will allow your acting to be informed and authentic. It’s definitely worth the effort!
