characterisation techniques

Miranda

When looking at the characterization of he character Miranda from The Tempest I used many different character exploration techniques such as identifying the physical aesthetics of the character and then making this a reality to get a feel of. He character. I learnt from this that the character was in need of a dress which flowed with her movements as she is a free character full of youth. When I put the costume on I felt so much more in character compared to when I was running the scene in my normal clothes this was due to the costume giving me more freedom to move and explore the characters mannerisms such as the way she walks with a hop in her step and her jumping around when she is happy. 

Another excessive I tried was looking into the characters dialogue and how she would say it, I did this exercise with Dan during a rehearsal and we read through the script at different passes and in different emotions first trying it in a sad dramatic way creating a very theatrical performance, this varied to extremely happy and energies where me and Dan danced around the stage and ran through the script to fit. I found this experience extremely fun and rewarding when It came to character exploration, this was due to how clear it made my character and how it allowed me to see how Miranda needed to be a happy medium between the overly exited ball of energy and low energy more realistic character we had when first reading the script. 

I missed e lesson when the class hot seated their characters but I took the opera unity to do my own hot seating with Dan in lesson, we had a full discussion about our characters and why they do want do in the scene and why they feel and react to certain lines throughout. This convocation heeled me to cement the meaning of lines in our extract for example the line "I do not know one of my sex, nor woman's face remember,save from mine glass mine own." This line clearly means that she hasn't seen any other women's faces except her own. But due to my discussion with Dan we deduced that Miranda would be a masque in character as she has never had a strong female presence such as a mother, this helped me not only with characterization but with my costume also as I decided that the character wouldn't have good hair or clothes as she wouldn't feel the need to look feminine and attractive for Ferdinand as she wouldn't have been taught to do her hair nice or fix her clothing like women would have done.

Before I started this extract I watched the film version of the play online to get a feel of the character and how she I'd portrayed by other actresses, I watched many different interpretations of the character and decided that I wanted to play the character a little differently, because I noticed that many people tent to play Miranda as quite ditsy and girly, but after looking into her background I don't believe this is how she would have been. I believe she would have been a lot more rough and not care what she does or looks like due to her growing up on an island. To highlight her rough side I threw wood across the stage without a care rather than softly placing them down as a more girly Miranda would have done. Also I steel the pile of wood from Dan and run off with it in contrast to Miranda tenderly taking it from Ferdinand in a more kind way, this highlights her child like side and how playful the character is. The way I created my character Is not based on another character but is derived from how I didn't want to play MIranda in comparison the the way I have seen others portray her.