Actor and Text Process Portfolio
Introduction
In my Actor and Text lessons this term, we worked with director and actor Claire Eden looking at techniques for analysing text and developing characters. We explored different practitioners’ work like Stanislavski, Stella Adler and Cicely Berry and used their methods to create our own process for breaking down a piece of text. This included using character research, text analysis and imagination to inform our acting choices in the scene. In this portfolio, I will share the texts we looked at that I found most useful and how I feel they helped me, my performance, and my process.
Punk Rock
The first text we looked at was Punk Rock by Simon Stephens. This session focused on sight reading, something that I often struggle with as I can find reading quite difficult and often stutter when reading something I am not familiar with. We started with table reads in small groups and I read for the part of William. I found this a bit difficult as I knew nothing about the play or the character and he had some chunky paragraphs to read which made me a little bit uneasy. Before we started, Claire gave us some useful strategies for sight reading. These included clarity in your voice as well as your choice, using the punctuation to give clues about pauses and feelings, connection with whoever you’re speaking with and using rhythm to speak like a person normally would instead of robotically reading out loud.
For the first read through, I noticed that my intonation on some of the lines was a bit odd as I have slow processing so didn’t have time to read ahead and understand how the line was meant to flow until I’d already read it. This annoyed me because I couldn’t read ahead in the text without losing my place in the scene as we were reading through it. Another struggle I had was understanding what my character meant, especially without context from earlier in the play.
I prefer it when I can read through my lines in my head before I have to speak them and where possible, this will be something I always do to make table reads easier for myself. When I can’t see a script beforehand, I will try to stay calm and just go with it if I make mistakes instead of panicking and making more mistakes.
We then did a short improvisation with our characters. We were given a setting which was a study room and we were talking about exams. Improvisation is another thing I really struggle with due to my slow processing as I panic when I can’t think of anything to say quick enough. During this exercise, I didn’t struggle as much as I thought I would as having an existing character to work off made it a lot easier. I made a spider diagram with what I knew about my character so I had some key things to work with and I had a level of knowledge about the character and a decent understanding of how he spoke so I felt confident enough to join in.
The Importance of Being Earnest
We worked in two’s looking at a scene from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. For this scene, we went through the text and marked the beats, objectives, antithesis’ and the internal and external obstacles. This helped me think more about what my character is feeling and the intention behind what he is saying as well as where this changes throughout the scene. I looked briefly at Uta Hagen’s 9 questions after reading the play, so I had some main details about my character to keep in mind when making my acting choices for the scene.
We added beats where there was a shift in emotion or objective. Here we added some comedy by having Lady Bracknell’s tone shift nearly every line. We did this to show that she is messing with Jack and showing fake approval.
Jack’s objective in this scene is to convince Lady Bracknell that he is worthy of marrying Gwendolyn.
His obstacles are the things stopping him from marrying Gwendolyn. This includes Lady Bracknell’s current lack of approval, the fact that his answers must meet a certain standard and that he doesn’t understand what Lady Bracknell wants from him.
We tried the scene as we would naturally approach it first and then tried out 3 different emotions for our character. I chose desperate, annoyed and stupidly happy/ignorant bliss. The way we performed the scene each time was very different to how we naturally would, but it worked well. This was interesting as it gave me new ideas of choices I could make where certain lines made more sense a certain way. I have a habit of sticking with the first or second way I perform a line, so this was useful to consider finding more choices before deciding how I am going to deliver a line in the performance. In the end, I decided to play Jack as uncertain and nervous for the first part, then gaining confidence as Lady Bracknell validates his answers and then uneasy and eventually stressed, confused and annoyed at the end of the scene.
I followed Stella Adler’s acting technique of character development through world building research. Her technique altered Stanislavski’s method by imagining the world of the character based on research and text analysis rather than using personal memory and emotion. This research involves things like history, culture, and the language of the time as well as what the characters life might be like and what their profession involved. These aspects can affect the characters personality and how they act, dress, and speak. In my research, I looked at fashion, posture, music, politics and language. This helped me inform how I was going to play the character and the different choices I could make based on what I knew about his life and the social expectations of the time.
I have done extensive research on characters I’ve played in the past, but this task encouraged me to use my research to influence every part of my performance as it was just for a short scene. It allowed me to look in depth at how parts of a character’s life can affect even the smallest thing they do which might seem insignificant when looking at the play as a whole, but it can help to develop the character further.
For example, Jack was adopted by a rich man so has quite a lavish life style so I used a posh accent, stood with good but relaxed posture and I was quite melodramatic on certain lines to highlight the absurdity of the upper class’s overindulgence.
Romeo and Juliet
Firstly, we looked at approaching heightened text and walking the text. We looked at this extract from Romeo and Juliet and did different actions for the different punctuation. For example, change direction for a comma and stop for a full stop. This exercise was inspired by Cicely Berry and her belief that acting in Shakespeare’s work should focus on how the language physically expresses the feelings. This helped me think about pace as well as feeling how the text moves.
We then worked in a group looking at an extract from the first scene of Romeo and Juliet where I played Tybalt. I have done a Romeo and Juliet musical in the past, so I knew a lot about the play, the characters and society at the time so I did a small amount of extra research before blocking the scene. As I was only in the last part of the scene, I took some time to write down what I knew about my character, so I had some main points to focus on. This was interesting for me as when I did the show I played Juliet, so Tybalt was a fun change and I really enjoyed it, especially the slo-mo fight we added at the end of the extract.
We then did the scene but spoke the lines in our own words. This helped me to have a clear understanding of the lines and the intention behind them. I find that Shakespeare is relatively easy to follow when you know what’s going on so this meant that I found it quite straightforward to come up with my own lines. In the future, I would like to be able to come up with these lines on the spot, or at least to write down ideas and improvise around them rather than pre planning like I did in this session. I know the play well and I don’t struggle much with the language so if I did this exercise again I would like to trust myself to be more spontaneous.
Macbeth/Javert
We looked at an extract from Macbeth with the task of analysing it, researching the character and making clear acting choices based on those factors using everything we had looked at so far. I got slightly distracted by research for this piece of text as I love the play but after being pointed in the right direction by Claire, this is how I prepared.
Firstly, I did some basic script annotations like marking the punctuation to keep the pacing right and also adding in where I would use iambic pentameter. I did this where it felt natural to use rhythmic speech in the text to keep it naturalistic whilst also employing a technique intended by Shakespeare.
I then did a lot of research on the play, the characters and the historical context of the play. I think I went a tad overboard with my research, particularly considering that I have played the role of Macbeth before in a musical adaptation so I already know the play and the character very well. I used this to find intention in the lines and decide what Macbeth is thinking and feeling in different sections of the text.
Next, I went through the monologue and read it out in my own words. I didn’t document this, but I wish I did because it was really entertaining but either way it made me feel confident in my understanding of the text. I also put the text in a different format so I can read it properly. This is something I have done in the past to get the pacing right because I get a bit confused when a sentence keeps going over multiple lines with no punctuation. For me, I have found that it’s useful to have a fully annotated copy as well as a copy in a more readable format and then I can piece it together as I’m learning it.
Finally, I made some notes on blocking for the scene. These choices were influences by the intention and thoughts I previously looked at.
In our next session, we looked at how songs and monologues are essentially the same thing. Each monologue was paired with a song from Les Misérables and Macbeth was paired with Stars, sung by Javert. I have seen the musical, but I didn’t remember much about Javert, so I started with some research.
Here are some of the initial choices my research led me to make.
I did some annotations, then went through the song to consider blocking. This piece is often done quite static, and I like the stillness, so my main focus was Javert’s eyeline. I started with a main focus point which came to be known as the ‘Jean Valjean focus point’ and went from there.
This task was really helpful for me because I haven’t thought about monologues and songs being similar, even though it seems obvious now, but going through songs in the same way as monologues and then comparing them was a useful exercise to see how the process is almost identical. This is something I will use going forward when looking at songs to make sure I go as in depth as I would for monologues.
Application – Acting Through Song
I am applying the techniques I have learnt in Actor and Text in other classes, for example, Acting Through Song. Just like with Stars, I am researching the character and the world of the show when I start looking at a song, I annotate my sheet music and add acting/vocal choices based on the research. Here is some sheet music that I looked at recently.
Conclusion
Overall, the Actor and Text lessons this term have significantly developed my confidence, understanding, and independence as an actor. Working with a range of texts and practitioners has given me new methods for approaching scripts, characters, and performances. I have learnt how to combine text analysis, research and imagination to make informed and purposeful acting choices rather than relying on instinct. These sessions have also helped me to better understand my own strengths and challenges, particularly around sight reading and improvisation. Through these exercises, I have found strategies that work for me, such as thorough annotation, reformatting text for clarity, and using character knowledge to ground improvisation. I feel more equipped to tackle a wide range of material and more confident in my ability to develop complex, well-informed characters.
Bibliography
Adler, S (2000) The Art of Acting. New York: Applause Books.
Berry, C (1987) The Actor and the Text. London: Methuen.
Berry, C (1973) Voice and the Actor. New York: Wiley Publishing Inc.
Hagen, U (2008) Respect for Acting. London: Macmillan.
Schönberg, C-M and Boublil, A (1980) Stars, in Les Misérables. Paris: Musical.
Schott Acting Studio (n.d.) The Stella Adler Acting Technique. Available online: https://schott-acting-studio.de/en/the-stella-adler-acting-technique/ (Accessed: 3/1/2026).
Shakespeare, W (2012) Macbeth. London: The Arden Shakespeare.
Shakespeare, W (2012) Romeo and Juliet. London: The Arden Shakespeare.
Stanislavski, K (2013) An Actor Prepares. London: Bloomsbury.
Stephens, S (2009) Punk Rock. London: Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama.
Wikipedia (n.d.) Stanislavski’s System. Available online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislavski%27s_system(Accessed: 3/1/2026).
Wilde, O (2015) The Importance of Being Earnest. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
