What A Character Wants: Exploring The Application Of Objectives

Demystifying the theater profession, offering a foundation for creative life and reinvestment in the creative process. This is Dedicated to the Craft, part of the Electric Secrets variety podcast. I'm Scott Leon Smith, and I'm your host. Let's flip the script. 

Hello everybody. Nice to be back with you. In the last episode, we talked about using the imagined energy of tactics to help us make discoveries about our characters in rehearsal. And remember, we need, in that imagined energy, we need a good specific action verb. We can only act a verb, not a thing or a quality. So, we need a good specific action like proclaim or comfort, is one we also experimented with. We could even have an abstract action verb like spatter, and we use our vocal energy in a spatter-like form. 

And when we commit to the energy of using a tactic and experiment with coloring the tactic with dynamics like mood and speed and volume, all of this is a rehearsal exercise to help us make discoveries about our character and figure out what our character wants and what works moment to moment in collaboration with our scene partners and with our director. 

In this episode, I want to focus on objectives. Now, remember “objective” means a tactic plus a desired outcome, both of which may change, but most likely, your tactics are going to change more often than your desired outcome. So, an objective is a tactic plus a desired outcome. And we're going to look at this through the lens of a prepared script with characters and dialogue that are already given to us. 

I think the best way to look at objectives is just by looking at open scenes. Now, if you Google open scenes, you're going to find all kinds of sites with all kinds of very, very short one-page scenes between two to three characters, and they could be about almost anything. I use these scenes with my students all the time. So, I have an example here that I found online, and I'm just going to read through this scene. It's very short. I'm going to read both characters in a monotone voice just so we can get a sense of the scene. So, the characters are designated as character red and character blue, and character red starts. 

Hi.

Hello. 

How are you? 

Fine, I guess. 

Are you sure? 

Yes, I'm fine. 

Do you know what time it is? 

No, not exactly. 

Am I late? 

A little. 

Well, well what? 

What did you do last night? 

What do you mean? 

What did you do last night? 

Nothing. 

Nothing? 

I said nothing. 

I'm sorry I asked. 

That's all right. 

Are you sure? 

Yes. 

Let's get started. 

Okay, now we have a sense of the scene, and already you are probably having some preconceived notions about what is happening in the scene. Your imagination is already working, just based on what you've heard. Now, for the purposes of this exercise, we want to try to avoid as much of that as possible and, just like we did in the last episode, focus on the energy of tactics. 

Now, just for the purposes of this episode and this particular exercise, I'm just going to decide on a scene tactic for each character. Remember, I'm not talking objective right now, I'm talking about just what I talked about in the last episode, using the energy of tactics. I think a great start to this exercise is just for each actor in the scene to ride a single tactic like it's a wave all the way through the scene. I'm going to do that myself, so I'm basically going to be talking to myself. For character Red, I've chosen the tactic to hassle. Hassle is my tactic for red. And for the character Blue, I've chosen the tactic deny. 

And just so we can further keep the characters straight, what I'm going to do with character blue is I'm going to put a filter on the sound so it sounds like character blue is talking through a speakerphone. So, you will hear character red's lines the way you normally hear me, and you'll hear character blue's lines through the phone filter. So, it'll sound sort of like a phone conversation. Okay, here we go. 

Hi. 

Hello. 

How are you? 

Fine, I guess. 

Are you sure? 

Yes, I'm fine. 

Do you know what time it is? 

No, not exactly. Am I late? 

A little. 

Well? 

Well, what? 

What did you do last night? 

What do you mean? 

What did you do last night? 

Nothing. 

Nothing? 

I said nothing. 

I'm sorry I asked. 

That's all right. 

Are you sure? 

Yes. 

Let's get started. 

Now, it's interesting to hear this as a phone conversation because if you talk to somebody on the phone, you rely on your vocal energy without even thinking about it. And sometimes, especially if the conversation intensifies with joy or anger or emotion, you'll start to physicalize the energy as well. So, remember, this is about the imagined energy of tactics, which we're exploring through our voice and articulation of scripted lines. So, when I was reading character Red, in my mind, I'm going, hassle, hassle. And when I'm reading character Blue, in my mind, I'm going, deny, deny, deny. So, each of those characters is riding a tactic through the scene. And by doing this, hopefully, we get a sense of each character's objective, and then we can modify our tactics to fit the objectives we choose. 

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OK, so just for the sake of time, let's just assign an objective for each character. The best way to articulate an objective is through what we call a so that phrase. So, if my tactic is hassle, which is character Red's tactic, I'm going to express character Red's objective as this. I'm going to hassle character Blue so that he apologizes to me. I hassle so that character Blue apologizes to me. 

Now, here's a place in our exercise where we can't help thinking about context. So, the question might be, well, what is he apologizing for? What does Character Red want Character Blue to apologize for? We're not worried about that right now for this exercise. We're worried about articulating the objective and experimenting with the energy of the tactics. So just be careful to stay in the spirit of the exercise. Try not to play context, mood, or dynamics like speed or volume. So again, for the character who is called Red, my objective is stated as hassle so that Character Blue apologizes to me. The tactic plus the desired result. For Character Blue, whose tactic is deny, I'm going to articulate that objective as deny so that Character Red drops the subject. Tactic plus desired result. Deny so that Red drops the subject. So now I'm going to read the scene again, this time with objectives in mind, but still playing the energy of the tactics. 

Hi. 

Hello. 

How are you? 

Fine, I guess. 

Are you sure? 

Yes. I'm fine. 

Do you know what time it is? 

No, not exactly. Am I late? 

A little. Well? 

Well, what? 

What did you do last night?

 What do you mean? 

What did you do last night? 

Nothing. 

Nothing. I said nothing. 

I'm sorry I asked. 

That's all right. 

Are you sure? 

Yes. 

Let's get started. 

Now, hopefully, we're getting a clearer sense of what's happening between these two characters and what each one of them wants. But remember, this is all about you in rehearsal.

You’re not going to get a sense of what’s actually happening when I’m reading both characters. It really is paying attention to how your imagination is working. If I’m playing a Character Red, then my tactic is “hassle so that he apologizes.” In my head, that’s my inner monologue. 

And if we’re calling it an inner monologue, for Character Blue, in my head, my objective is to “deny everything so that Character Red drops the subject.” And again, since we’ve turned this into kind of a phone conversation, it shows us how we can commit to the imagined vocal energy. 

And if you ever do this exercise with a scene partner, I recommend sitting back-to-back so that you are focusing your imagination on the tactics themselves. And, just as a quick sidebar, if you work with open scenes, this is the point where I recommend solidifying the context of the scene. Where the scene is set. What the relationships are between the characters? What their names are. What’s happening in the environment, all that stuff. And that’s just to avoid, as much as possible, any preconceived notions that you get just by reading the words of the scene. So don’t start with the context or the mood that you get from the lines. Start with specific actions. And then, work into objectives and use those to figure out what’s happening in the scene and what your relationship is with the other characters. Then, you’ll make further discoveries. And if you’re doing a play, you’re collaborating with a director, and you’re figuring out what works. What tactics you need to change? How you might need to specify your objective. 

So, what happens when a character changes their tactic? Their objective might change with it sometimes, but let’s just, for the sake of argument, in this particular exercise, let’s say that the objective for Character Red stays the same throughout this scene and, let’s just say in the middle of the scene, I’m going to change Character Red’s tactic. Let’s change the tactic from hassle to entice. Just to try it. So, instead of hassling Character Blue so that Character Blue will apologize, I’m going to entice Character Blue to apologize. 

You’ll be able to hear this when it happens. Ok? Here we go. 

Hi. 

Hello. 

How are you? 

Fine, I guess. 

I'm fine. 

Do you know what time it is? 

No, not exactly. Am I late? 

A little. 

Well? 

Well, what? 

What did you do last night? 

What do you mean? 

What did you do last night?

Nothing?

Nothing?

I said nothing.

I’m sorry I asked.

That’s … alright.

Are you sure?

Yes. Let’s get started.

Interesting, huh? See, when a tactic isn’t working, a character might try something different to get the same result. Now, what you heard was a character making a choice that was a little bit out of left field. A little bit unexpected. But, if we contextualize the scene, maybe it works. Maybe, given the relationship between these two characters, it might be something that Character Red would do. Surprise Character Blue by using a tactic that Character Blue is not going to expect to intice Character Blue to apologize or to maybe admit that they did something that they though Character Red did not know about last night. So, it really is all about the character you are playing trying to get what they want. And the tactics that the character uses to get what they want are the result of your rehearsal, your commitment to the energy of these tactics and collaboration with your scene partner and your director. 

Hey, how are you? This is Marty Merman. Everybody could use a laugh these days. And if you come to the Albatross Café, which is the comedy segment of the Electric Secrets variety podcast, it's sort of a mock podcast of which I am the host. Myself and my beautiful mother, Esther, and her best friend, Agnes, will our utmost to keep you in the proverbial stitches, as they say. So, pay us a visit. You'll have a good time. And hey, back to the acting segment, Dedicated to the Craft, hosted by our employer, Mr. Scott Leon Smith, who may or may not be me. 

Now, if this exercise were being done between two actors and not just me reading to myself, Character Red would be listening and reacting to Character Blue. And Character Blue would be listening and reacting to Character Red. Actively listening. Actively reacting. Now, that's something that I can't recreate as a single person. It's something that has to happen between two actors. And as you're making discoveries for both your characters, then you're collaborating in order to make more discoveries and to collaborate with your director to figure out what works and what you ultimately want to try to execute for performance. So, when you listen and react to your scene partner, this is what drives the scene. This is what adds realism to it. It makes the scene appear to an audience like it's happening for the first time in front of them. And it also helps the actors immerse themselves in the scene so that they feel to a certain degree that it's happening to them for the first time. 

So, what I'm going to do for you now is I'm going to illustrate this for you in probably not the best way, but you can hear kind of what's happening at least from my point of view as an actor. I'm going to play you the pre-recorded lines for Character Red, and then you'll hear me reacting to those lines as Character Blue. 

I'll be coloring Character Blue's tactics and Character Blue's objective with my reactions just from listening to Character Red. 

I think we're used to the script now, so I'll take out the telephone voice for Character Blue. This is going to be strange for me, but I'll do the best I can with it. Here we go.

Hi. 

Hello. 

How are you? 

Fine, I guess. 

Are you sure? 

Yes, I'm fine. 

Do you know what time it is? 

No, not exactly. Am I late? 

A little. 

Well? 

Well what? 

What did you do last night? 

What do you mean?

What did you do last night? 

Nothing. 

Nothing. 

I said nothing. 

I'm sorry I asked. 

That's all right. 

Are you sure? 

Yes. Let's get started. 

Now, you're hearing a lot of similarities between all of these readings that I've been doing. Now remember, this is not the final product. This is exercises for rehearsal. And the more you commit yourself to the exercise, the more natural and realistic it's going to seem for someone watching it. That's one of the things that actors drive themselves absolutely insane with is this need to perform and know what the audience is thinking and feeling with their performance. Well, if you're a character, you're not worried about an audience because you're in a world where there's no audience. In rehearsal, the only audience you have is your peers and your director, and that's who you're working for. So, you shouldn't be nervous about impressing them. You should be bringing something to the table. And this is what you bring to the table: your commitment to trying these tactics out, trying to make discoveries about your character, trying to figure out what your character wants, what their objectives are, how their tactics are changing, and when their objectives change. And you're trying all this stuff out. Rehearsal is an attempt. So, you're making all these attempts to collaborate and figure out what works for performance. So, it's a great exercise to just find some open scenes online, find your friends, and try these exercises out. 

In the next episode of Dedicated to the Craft, we're going to delve more into scene work and script preparation. We'll take a look at some open scenes that already have some context given. They're a little bit more of a challenge. They're also written stylistically to the point where the actor has to make specific decisions about tactics and objectives. 

Until then, I'm Scott. Thank you so much for listening. Stay dedicated, and I will see you next time.