Creating Characterisation for Scenes in Drama
Teaching Student Playwrights how to Conceive Characters for a Play
Aug 24, 2009
Drama is ultimately about people: their attitudes, their history, their motives and most importantly how they relate and contrast with one another. Without fully-rounded characters, there is little tension and subtext. The drama teacher can use a few strategies to help the students conceive compelling and realistic characters from which to build a scene or a play.
Strategy for Students on Creating Characters for Plays
The teacher will inform the students that inspiration for creating characters can be sought from many sources. The smallest detail such as the character’s nickname often has huge consequences upon the sort of person the character might be. A future lesson may involve completing a character questionnaire. In this exercise, however, the students will be required to provide plenty of old newspapers, magazines and cuttings from other sources. They will also require a scrapbook, scissors and glue.
Conceiving Character Profiles from Press Cuttings
The resources will be placed on a table in front of the students in a huge pile. Each student must sift through and find:
- An image of a face (not a celebrity, as this might influence the profile)
- A name for the character
- A photograph of the neighbourhood where the character spent his/her childhood
- Photographs of educational institutions or places or work
- Photographs of the character’s present residence
- Press clipping containing events that reflects the story of the character
- Select a headline that represents a life-changing event for the character
With the items selected, the students must cut them out and stick them into their scrapbook in order to form an essential biography of the character.
Creating Scrapbook Biographies for Characters in a Play
The students have now created a rough profile to their characters but it is likely to be disjointed. The students must now try to link the facts together in order to create a narrative to the character’s back-story. How, for example did one event lead to another? The students might be asked to use their clippings and to form groups in order to discuss the following:
- What was the character’s upbringing like?
- How did it affect the character in adulthood?
- Are there any reasons for the character’s name?
- Is the character happy where he/she works/studies? If not, why not?
- Is the character married? Does the character have children?
- How did each life event affect the character?
- How did the life-changing event affect the character in the long run?
- What is the character’s present situation?
Lesson on how to Create Realistic Characters for a Play
As much detail can be lavished upon the scrapbooks as the students wishes, and more detail may be added in future. When writing a play, the scrapbook biography can be called upon to provide a starting point. Every detail need not be included within the scene or the play, for many playwrights consider complex back-stories to their characters, which are not necessarily used in the play. The exercise stimulates diverse learning channels via visual, kinaesthetic and auditory learning.
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