Indicating the Character

This will be familiar to some of you:

You have to play a character accused of a crime. From the script, it is not clear whether they are guilt or not. No one knows and the playwright won’t tell.

Does the actor playing the accused character NEED to know if they are guilty or not, in order to play the part?

I say ABSOLUTELY NOT. If the playwright did not furnish you with that particular information, it isn’t essential to playing the role. It is a misunderstanding of the playing of character that such details are necessary. Anyone who thinks that they can ‘create’ a psychologically complex persona when most people can barely keep their own under control is deluding themselves.

How do you think you can use this information to play the scene? If you act the scene like you’re guilty, you will give the game away and spoil the play. If you try to act like you’re not guilty, you will over-egg the pudding I fear. If you try to act like a guilty man trying to look innocent, you’ll not only confuse yourself, but you’ll also create moments of pure ham and cheese. There is no serious way to ‘act like a guilty man pretending or trying to be innocent’ without asking that the audience indulge you.

You will be indicating the character. You will be trying to ‘tell’ the audience something about the character through your acting. I doubt that it will ever come across in the way that you want it.

It is not what the character knows that is important in this case, it is what they DO that matters. What does the accused man want? People to believe that he’s innocent.

So whether you believe the character is innocent or guilty, your actions should be exactly the same. Your job is to attain the same goal, to be considered innocent, and be freed from the situation. Anything else is indicating through your actions. If the scene requires it, it should be there in the text.