That which hinders your task, is your task, Sanford Meisner
All of us confront challenges in life that impede what we hope to accomplish or force us to struggle harder to get what we want. The same is true in theatre. Anything that stands in the way of your character achieving their objective is an obstacle. Defining the obstacles your character faces answers Uta Hagen’s question, “what is in your character’s way.” Conflict in drama arises when an objective encounters and obstacle. Since conflict is the very nature of drama, the more obstacles a character has the better.
Sometimes characters see obstacles looming ahead of them, and sometimes characters encounter unexpected obstacles as a scene or the play unfolds. In either case, you should allow your character to spontaneously adjust their actions in response to the obstacle they face. In fact, the nature of the obstacle determines the nature of your character’s action. For example, if your character is being chased by bear and you encounter a fence, your character’s action will be to climb. But if you then come upon a river, your character’s action will be to swim.
While the true nature of the obstacles your character encounters will become evident to the actor upon reading the script, the characters themselves can only rely on their perceptions of what the obstacle is. When you think about it, none of us has a God’s eye view of the truth. We all rely on our perceptions of the world to guide everything we do in life. This point is critical for the actor: whether your character sees a looming obstacle up ahead, or discovers an unexpected obstacle during a scene, their perception of the nature of the obstacle determines their actions to overcome it. Here’s a simple illustration: say your character goes to open a door with the expectation that door opens out. So, their action is to pull on it. But let’s say their expectation of how the door operates is incorrect – their perception does not align with the truth – the door actually opens in. Once the character realizes this, they can then change their action from pulling to pushing. All of this emphasizes the importance of seeing the world through the eyes of your character and understanding that what they perceive, and understand to be true, is not the whole truth which you as the actor probably know from reading the play.
To sum up:
Every perceived obstacle will trigger a new action by your character to overcome it. If the character sees a looming obstacle, this generally means they will plan an action or actions to deal with it. If the character encounters an unexpected obstacle in a scene, then they will spontaneously change their action to deal with it.
Obstacles almost always arise when your character has a realization, discovery, or surprise, but such revelations can alternately lead your character to perceive an opportunity. An opportunity is something that is perceived by your character as a shortcut or pathway toward achieving their objective. Whereas obstacles are like walls, opportunities are like doorways. Like obstacles, when a new opportunity arises, your character’s actions will change, or adjust to leverage this new information to your character’s advantage. A great example of a fortuitous opportunity comes from Hamlet. In the beginning of the play Hamlet is struggling to find a way to prove Claudius’ guilt – and he is not making much headway. Then the players arrive and Hamlet perceives an opportunity – he will hire the players to reenact his father’ murder before Claudius and the Court. By watching Claudius’ reaction to the play, Hamlet will determine whether he is guilty or not.
In interpersonal scenes the obstacles and opportunities your character will encounter will almost always be tied to the other character or characters in the scene. Generally, these obstacles and opportunities are defined by your character’s perceptions of what the other character wants, what they are doing, and why. New obstacles and opportunities arise in the moment when unexpected behavior or actions by the other character bring about realizations or discoveries. When this happens, your character will spontaneously adjust their actions to overcome the new obstacle, or take advantage of the new opportunity.
A problem that can occur with actors is the desire to reduce or eliminate their character’s obstacles. One reason this can happen is that actors may want to make it easier for their character to achieve their objective. While it is true in life that we all would like fewer obstacles, in theatre we need as many as possible. Another reason actors can tend to reduce their character’s obstacles, which I think is more common, is the fact that actors forget to realize that their character will perceive obstacles that the actor – by reading the script and having a God’s eye view – doesn’t see, or doesn’t see as significant.
One final note: Actors need to look at obstacles and opportunities as their best friends. Without them, they deny themselves the chance to show their character struggling with everything they have to get what they want. As Meisner says in the above quote: remember “what hinders your task, is your task.” Without obstacles, and opportunities, conflict evaporates and the play becomes boring.
That’s all folks!
David
If there weren’t scripts and repeated rehearsals, I would be more apt to accept an unexpected obstacle in a scene. Do you see what I mean?
Of course! This is a big challenge for actors. You’ve read the script so you know about the obstacles that are in the scene, but your character does not. This makes it very difficult to play “genuine” surprise when the unexpected obstacle arises. A key technique that I’ve found useful is to clarify what the character expects to happen in the scene that is different from what actually happens. Then to play the scene expecting the other character in the scene to act, or react, differently then how they actually respond.
In the post I put on Expectations, I believe I used an example from the Hamlet/Ophelia scene. The actor playing Hamlet knows that Ophelia will immediately return gifts he gave her – essentially breaking up with him. But Hamlet, the character, expects something else: perhaps that she will apologize for avoiding him, or to be happy to see him, or to forgive him for some unintended slight by him. He wants her love, affection and support, and he hopes he will get it. This is what underlies the character’s expectations. Each actor can make their own choice, but the key thing is that for a surprise to occur the actor needs to play an expectation different than what actually happens.
Hope this helps!