A play is nothing without memorable characters. But how do you find characters that embody the central question or theme of your story?
Now that you have a clearer idea of your theme, it’s time to find characters that reflect the opposing conflicts of your central question.
But how do you create characters that live and breathe in the world of your play rather than exist solely to serve your doctrine?
What do your characters want?
A well-rounded character has a clearly defined objective that relates to the central problem of the play.
Typically, the problem prevents our protagonist (the main character) from being the best version of themselves. And that problem relates to your theme.
At the beginning of the play, they’re stuck, and they need to break free somehow.
Finding a starting point
These exercises will help you find characters that exist in the world of your theme. You’ll find them at the moment the tensions are about to pop – at the point at which the world of the play is about to change forever.
By the end of this session, you’ll have:
- A protagonist and two other characters who relate to the theme
- Objectives for each of the characters
- A construct for conflict
Tasklist
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A protagonist
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An objective
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Someone to stop them achieving it
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A main character exercise, completed for each character