Read and Understand

The first step of the process is to read and understand the text. This, in essence, is self-explanatory; to read the text carefully and ensure that I understand it. An element of this involves looking at words with meanings that I may not understand, or perhaps references that I should need to research. This is a vital step because it becomes much more difficult later in the process to make creative choices when there is uncertainty as to what one actually means by each line. In the session where we analysed this in depth, the text used was Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (1597). I felt that Shakespearean text was a very helpful one here, as to many the language used is almost incoherent, therefore requiring more focus to obtain its meaning, and a sense of what the text is trying to say. I looked at Act 1 Scene 1 of the play, focusing in on the character of Sampson. The first thing that I did with this text was to translate the words into more modern English, to help my understanding of the phrasings used. I did this with some element of prior Shakespearean knowledge, as well as the No Fear Shakespeare book of Romeo and Juliet (SparkNotes, 2020), which provided a modern translation beside the original text to comb through.  This meant that I was able to annotate my text with a clearer understanding of the meaning and intent behind each line; for example, Sampson’s line of “we will not carry coals” felt nonsensical, with it being a manner of speaking to which I am unaccustomed. The No Fear Shakespeare edition of the play showed me that, in essence, this meant that they would not tolerate any insults. Further research into this phrasing showed me why this wording was used, as status in Elizabethan times was of heightened importance to everyone in society; everyone had a certain place. The negative implication of carrying coals referred to not doing such a degrading task without fighting back. This aided in my development of my character, as it showed that even Sampson, being of a servant’s status, knows that the hierarchy in society still does not place him at the very bottom, and he may still maintain superiority over another. this could serve as explanation for his often brash attitude in the play, in a way of convincing himself that he holds some form of authority.

Research and World Building

The secondary step to this acting process is to focus on the research and world-building, which involves looking into the culture and time period in which the character is residing. These elements help hugely in the formation of a character, as their behaviour and manners will vary hugely dependant on factors such as class or time period. The categories that I prefer to focus on are politics, economics, language, beliefs and fashion. In lectures, we looked at researching music as well, however I found this to be less useful as it is not always as relevant to the character. In some more specific cases where music aligns with the story it is a good idea to have for research, but I did not find it to be as widely applicable as the other five. To exemplify this, we spent a lesson looking at The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (1895), specifically an extract from the first act between Jack and Lady Bracknell. As I was playing the character of Lady Bracknell, I did my research on her; I looked at the scene context alongside the era and location of the play, and then delved into the research on those environmental factors mentioned earlier. In the research of the play, I was interested to find that Wilde’s play is not broken into as small scenes as most other plays often are; this is presented simply in three acts, which are not typically presented as “scenes”. As well as research on these elements of the play itself, I feel it to be an asset to do research on the playwright himself. This can add meaning and reason for choices in the text that may have gone previously misunderstood or under considered. Reading ‘The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde’ (Neil McKenna) gave me an insight into Wilde’s personal life, speaking extensively about his sexuality, with Wilde having been “a lover of young men” (Neil McKenna, 2003). This information makes the 2024 version of this play at the Littleton Theatre (last watched on Digital Theatre 18/12/2025) more logical in its presentation, as this rendition of the story contrasted period-accurate fashion with more flamboyant, modern stylings, and leans hugely in favour of bending social constructs which would have been a lot more rigid in 1895. This was evidently not a choice made for the mere purpose of entertainment, but a reference to the life led by the play’s creator, a vision of what he perhaps would have appreciated the opportunity to see.

“Nothing is serious except passion” – Oscar Wilde (A Woman of No Importance, 1893)

Analysis of the Text

Third, I will look at analysing the text in a more particular and thorough manner; looking at punctuation, facts and questions. Punctuation would look more in depth at how the character is saying their point, with certain pauses conveying certain emotion or thoughts that may not have been otherwise picked up on. Fact analysis means looking at what is blatantly said in the text about your character; what other characters say about them, what stage directions say about them, and what they say about themselves. It can also entail what they say about others, as this showcases what sort of an attitude they have towards social situations and certain relationships. Questions looks at what questions you may still have about this character after the primary analysis, what gaps are left uncertain that the actor themselves can fill in to create a more rounded vision of this character. The first text that I looked at for this step in the process was another from Romeo & Juliet (William Shakespeare, 1957), this time looking at the balcony scene (Act 2, Scene 2). Looking at a shakespearean text meant also considering the analysis of iambic pentameter, which is the rhythm which Shakespeare’s works follow. This often is described as a heartbeat, with the emphasised words making rhythmical sense. For example, in the image to the right, certain words such as “deny” and “refuse” are circled, these being the words of emphasis in a heightened text such as this. The use of this conveys deeper meaning and emphasises the writer’s intent for what he deemed to be the most vital points for the audience to hear, informationally or emotionally. With this snippet of text, we also looked at the exercise of walking the text. This links to the punctuation analysis, consisting of walking around the space while reading the text aloud, then enacting a different action upon reaching each punctuation mark. To exemplify with punctuation circled in the same image to the right, a comma would prompt a change in direction, a question mark would prompt a spin and the full stop meant stopping momentarily, and taking a pause before moving again. This was an exercise that I found to be helpful because it forces you to more thoroughly consider the punctuation being used, allowing it to affect your movements and choices. Looking at an extract from the play Serious Money (Caryl Churchill) was exemplary for finding facts and questions through analysis, demonstrated in the image of my annotated script to the right, below that of Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare).

Acting Choices

Finally, it would be time to consider what character choices can be made with this newfound intel on the character. All research done prior to this informs how the character moves, holds themselves and interacts with other players onstage. This step in the acting process is where we start to use the knowledge of particular practitioners, with the most relevant ones here being Constantin Stanislavski and Uta Hagen. Stanislavski’s Magic If (An Actor Prepares, 2013) was the one of his techniques that I found to be particularly useful, as it looks at the idea of what I would do, were I in my character’s situation. This helped a lot with the creation of acting choices, as performing the text as myself is a much easier starting point than jumping straight into being another person. Reading the extracts with the actions and emotions that I would instinctively use meant that I could take note of what did or did not work, and adapt it to fit the character. I found the clearest example of this to be how I analysed the Macbeth monologue (William Shakespeare, Macbeth:Act 2 Scene 1), the analysed version of this text being presented in the source to the left. I began by performing the monologue as myself, noting down those choices, and then looking into the previous research that I had done on the character and play to determine the finer details of how Macbeth himself would carry himself, how his gestures would be. For example, on the line “I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.”, my instinct would be to have a slumped posture to make the tilt of the head towards the dagger appear more significant. However, Macbeth was a nobleman, which would therefore mean a more instinctive upright posture as a result of that status, habitually wanting to make his good breeding and higher position in society more evident. So, thinking about that, I kept the idea of a tilted head but tilted it more to the side than up; emphasising his morbid curiosity in the dagger as opposed to him being below it, intimidated by it. Stanislavski also held some similarities to Uta Hagen, for example they both looked at the idea of “given circumstances”, with Hagen doing so in her 9 Questions. (Respect for Actors, 2008). This means considering what has just happened, what is happening, and what is going to happen. This would affect my choices because Macbeth is delivering his monologue at night, meaning that he would be in a nightgown as opposed to typical, more restricting Elizabethan garments. He would therefore be less regiments in his movements than I may have assumed.