THE PHYSICAL STATE OF THE CHARACTER

Bodies are tricky things. They can be injured, or ill. They can be healthy. They can be strong, or weak, or somewhere in-between. Every character exists in a given physical state.

Certain parts of the body may be in pain, and disturb a character, altering the way they gesture or walk, as an inflamed hip or broken leg might.

There will be a CHRONIC state of the body of the character, an on-going state. It is healthy, or it is always sick. There is always pain in the left tibia. He is always tired.

There MAY be ACUTE, or temporary states a character’s body passes through. he has a cold in scene five. He can’t stop sneezing in scene two. She bangs her funny bone at the end of Act One. Acute states pass, but they effect your performance of that character during the time they are active.

Be aware that your character’s body is NOT your body, The character has chronic and acute physical states that must be portrayed by you. This may include such things as height, skin color, and weight, all aspects of a physical existence that isn’t yours.

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EXERCISE: Looking at your character from a play, in a selected scene, decide what their CHRONIC physical state is, including height, weight, skin color, physical strength or weakness, and continuous pains of any sort. Work the scene through at least five times with a partner, and work to clearly portray their chronic physical states.

Now, in the same scene, either spot an acute state, or provide them one. This is a passing physical state, such as pain, or illness. Something temporary. Play that thing five times through, until you know you can play an acute physical state.