Introduction
Over the past semester during lessons, I have learnt, developed and expanded my understanding of techniques that have helped me to improve my method during this project. Within this portfolio I am going to expand on how I have found the process to benefit me or not benefit me as I have been working on the project.
Punk Rock by Simon Stephens
During this section of the project we looked at ‘Punk Rock’ by Simon Stephens, my group specifically looked at scene 4, pages 58 – 73. Whilst going over this scene, we particularly were looking into the importance of sight reading, ensuring coherence and a smooth read through. Why is sight reading an important skill for actors? Being able to sight read is important because it allows for a scene that you are reading to run without stopping and starting again, allowing for those involved to gain a better understanding of the scene, which could then potentially help those around better be able to portray their own characters. There are many real world scenarios such as where you may sight read, such as ‘castings, auditions, acting classes, workshops and running through the script’ (Lucy, 2019).
What techniques did I use to help me throughout the sight reading process? One way to help me was using clarity and diction. On the lines I was reading I slowed down my speech a little bit, allowing for me to have enough time to process what I was saying. This meant that when I was then saying the line aloud, it was said clearly, with clarity and diction. This helped for my peers to understand my tone and the point that I was trying to get across. Another strategy to help with my sight reading was my punctuation. I have always struggled to sight read, I would always stutter or lose my words however I found that by taking a breath at each comma, stopping and each full stop and so on allowed for me to better be able to sight read without stumbling or stuttering over my words, this meant that the read-through was able to be more coherent for me and my peers.
In conclusion, I found the techniques I used for sight reading to be incredibly useful within my development as an actor. They are really important as an actor as well and I know that moving forward I will continue to practise and use them for future projects.
Serious Money by Caryl Churchill
During this section of the project we looked at ‘Serious Money’ by Caryl Churchill. Within this extract of the play, we were tasked to create a short scene within our groups, I played the character of ‘Etherington’. First, me and my group researched world building. This allowed for us to gain a better understanding of the time period of the play and a better understanding of the context surrounding the characters. For example, I was tasked to research the economics section of the world building, I found out that women in the mid 1980s made just ‘66%’ (Grimshaw, Rubery, Figueiredo, 2002) of what men made. This helped us to understand the men’s views on women during the time and helped us to build our relationship with the female character of the piece, Marylou.
The method I used during this part of the project was Stanislavski’s ‘Given Circumstances’ method (MasterClass, 2022). First I looked at what my character wants, and what is his motivation within the extract. From reading the whole play I gathered that Etherington’s motivation is simply to make money, and do what is best for the company to make as much money as they can. This means that whilst performing I should seem ambitious about my job as a stockbroker to convey this message to the audience. Next, I look at when this piece is set. As myself and my peers have already done our world building research, this can easily be done. I have deducted that my character is a man who thinks he knows better than the women, and doesn’t mess about when it comes to making money. Moving on, I look at where this extract is set, which is London in the 1980s. By being set in London, this means that the financial markets were booming and this time in London is often referred to as the ‘Big Bang’ (Patalay, 2009) where stockbrokers and corporate companies were taking over the market. From my research about this time period and implementing it into Stanislavski’s ‘given circumstances’ it means that it has helped me to better understand what sort of person my character is.
All these given circumstances have massively helped me to better understand my character. This means that when I then perform my part in this extract, I am able to give a more convincing performance which means that the audience are better able to understand the story and what is going on within the scene.
In conclusion, I found the world building research and the ‘given circumstances’ technique to be useful and will carry them on within further projects that we do. They allowed for me to fully understand my character and their intentions. This means that when performing the character I am able to give a more in-depth, believable performance.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
During this section of the project, we looked at ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde. Whilst being tasked to create and block the scene within the given extract, we used a few different techniques throughout the rehearsal period to give us different ideas and ways of performing the scene. During the scene I played the character of Lady Bracknell, an upper class mother, who’s objective within this scene is vetting Jack to see if he would be a good suitor for her daughter. Thinking about my character’s objectives during the scene was one of my techniques, I found that this meant that it was much clearer to me, the way that my character should behave during this scene, including her mannerisms and the way she says certain lines. I also throughout about a ‘super objective’ for my character which would be her overall goal and intention. So, within this scene, my character’s objective is to see if Jack is a good suitor for her daughter and her ‘super objective’ throughout the play as a whole is to find her daughter a husband.
Another technique used is that each time we ran the scene, I would perform it so that my character had a different emotion and thought each time. The first time we ran the scene, it was done so in a way that my character was completely unimpressed by Jack, finding him not suitable for my character’s daughter whatsoever. I found this worked for the scene and allowed for me to convey my character’s emotions and intentions. However inspired by this, I then played it the complete opposite to before and throughout this run of the scene I did it so that my character was completely in awe of Jack and everything that he had to say. I found that doing these two opposite emotions showed that even with the same script, it can be done successfully in two completely separate ways and the scene still carries the full weight of what is trying to be said.
I found that by thinking of an objective and a super objective really allowed for me to put more into the character by having intentions in mind. Each line carried a different meaning than before when I was running the scene without an objective in mind. Similarly, I found it really interesting and useful to run the scene with two contrasting emotions, as it meant that I was able to then pick and choose the correct emotion for the scene to effectively convey my character’s intentions to an audience.
In conclusion, I found that by using the objective and super objective technique it allowed for me to better understand my character and her intentions. This meant that when performing the extract I felt as though I was able to give a more in-depth and believable rendition of the character. This I felt was also apparent when rehearsing the scene using different emotions each time as it allowed for me to use the right emotion when it came round to performing the scene, which I found incredibly useful.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
During this section of the project, we looked at ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare. We looked at act 1 scene 5, split up into pairs I played the character of Juliet for this extract. Thinking of all of the techniques and methods used before to create and block this short extract, I started off with world building. Before setting of with this technique, I did not know much about Romeo and Juliet and specifically the time period it was set and the social norms of that time. By first starting off with the world building research, I found it to be really useful in helping me to better understand the piece and the aspects of the time period that it was set in. It also allowed for me to better understand how my character of Juliet should act. As she is of a higher societal class, I was then able to better understand the way that she carried herself, her posture, her eye line and so forth.
Moving on from world building, I tried a new technique within this section of the project, called walking the punctuation. With this extract being Shakespeare and the language sometimes being more difficult to understand, I found that by using this method of walking the punctuation that it was better able to help me understand the meaning of some words and lines. To begin this exercise I first started just walking around the space, then when it came to a full stop I turned 180 degrees to represent this full stop. For a comma I would turn just 90 degrees. Within the Shakespearean text I found that by stopping and turning at each punctuation allowed for me to slow down and process what was being said. This then meant that when I performed the line I could say it aloud with more conviction and understanding. I felt as though this helped me to better perform my character and give a more convincing, believable interpretation of Juliet.
For this extract, I used Stanislavski’s ‘given circumstances’ technique. I thought it to be really helpful for me when I had used it before and I wanted to use it again. By using given circumstances I was able to understand my character a lot more clearly than I did before I had used it. It meant that when it came round to performing this extract with my peer that I fully understand my character’s objectives and what their aim was within this piece.
In conclusion, for this section of the project where I performed an extract from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, I found that by using the technique of walking the punctuation it allowed for me to better fully understand and comprehend the text a lot easier than I would have if I did not use the technique. This means that moving forward I will use the technique with other extracts as I found it to be incredibly useful within my work. Again, I also found the ‘given circumstances’ technique and the world building research to be really helpful within the extracts.
Conclusion
Overall, I found all of the techniques I have learnt to be very useful within my learning and I will certainly use them all in future projects. For me, I found the ‘given circumstances’ technique paired with the objective and super objective technique to be the most useful. It allowed for me to overall paint a much clearer picture about the character that I am playing. It also allows for me to dig deeper within my character and find more connection and emotion within their background and story. This means that when I then perform the character I am able to fully become my character and give a more realistic representation of them when performing.
Word count 2035 (excluding bibliography)
Bibliography
Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J. and Figueiredo, H. (2002) Search for a document, StaffNet | The University of Manchester. Available at: https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/ (Accessed: 19 December 2025).
Lucy (2019) Sight reading classes, UK. Available at: https://www.superprof.co.uk/blog/learn-to-act-sight-reading/#:~:text=It’s%20also%20known%20as%20cold%20reading.%20Sight,life%20and%20quickly%20develop%20a%20complex%20character (Accessed: 19 December 2025).
MasterClass (2022) Given circumstances in acting: How to get into character – 2025, MasterClass. Available at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/given-circumstances (Accessed: 19 December 2025).
Patalay, A. (2009) Caryl Churchill’s serious money is back with a big bang, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/apr/26/caryl-churchill-serious-money-birmingham (Accessed: 19 December 2025).
