CHARACTER CONDITIONS: WHAT THEY ARE

A condition is some temporary or permanent quality which does not belong innately to a character, but which they might be experiencing, and which may alter the character and the way he or she is portrayed.

A condition can be innate (built in to the character), self-induced, or imposed from outside. Here are some examples of conditions:

INNATE/
The character is mentally challenged.
The character is very short,
The character is very tall.
The character is underweight. (This could be self-induced, or organic)
The character is overweight. (This could be self-induced, or organic)
The character is of a particular ethnicity.
The character has a birth defect of some sort.
The character is brilliant.
The character is blind, or losing their vision.
The character is deaf, or losing their hearing.

SELF INDUCED/
The character is drunk.
The character has intentionally injured himself.
The character is on drugs.
The character is starving himself.
The character is gorging himself.
The character is desperate for sex.
The character is in love.

IMPOSED FROM WITHOUT/
The character is in jail.
The character is being starved.
The character is being or has been brainwashed.
The character has been drugged.
The character is ill.

There are many more potential conditions that can alter a persons life and actions. Probably, there are as many conditions possible as there are people. Your character will likely have innate conditions that help shape who they are. They MAY OR MAY NOT have self induced, or imposed conditions. If they do not, you MAY OR MAY NOT wish to create conditions for your character. They can add richness to your portrayal, both comic and dramatic, if the conditions are carefully and wisely selected and utilized. They can also unnecessarily complicate a portrayal. This is a matter of choice, an Actor’s Choice. Use as your guide the message of the piece, and the super objective of your character. If adding a condition or three will assist in the communication of the message and character, do it. If not, then don’t.

That said, I would never allow a condition to BECOME the character, to dominate the portrayal. It should only be an addendum, an add-on that brings more color and clarity to the portrayal, for the audience. It’s too easy for an actor to work very hard on a condition, say a chronic limp, a bad cold, a bout of drinking, and let that BE the entire character. Conditions are not characters. They are things that happen to characters, or that are done to characters, or that characters do to themselves. Please make this distinction.

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EXERCISE: Select an INNATE condition your character could have, from a given scene in a play. It doesn’t matter if the character has it or not, just assign a condition they were born with. Play the scene with a partner at least five times, grooving in your portrayal of that condition. Work it until you know how that condition alters the playing of your character, and you know you can use the condition to create nuances in the character’s portrayal.

Do the same thing again, with another innate condition.

Do the same thing again with a self-induced condition,

Do the same thing again with another self-induced condition.

Do the same thing with a condition imposed from without.

Do the same thing again with another condition imposed from without.