Script and Character Analysis
Acting training with Jason Bennett
You know the lines. What do you need from the person hearing them? What happens if you fail? Read for conflict, relationship and change. Turn your understanding into choices you can play.
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You learn how to work on a script in the pre-rehearsal phase.
Jason Bennett | JBAS
What is Script and Character Analysis?
You study the world of the play and the person you are playing. You look at events, circumstances, relationships, language and the demands of the story. Your character has a history before the first line and expectations about what will happen next. You ask how those expectations change as the scene unfolds.
Your knowledge of people matters. A need for respect is different from a need for money, affection or safety. You ask what that need means to this person, with this partner, in these circumstances. You then investigate how it affects what you do, how you speak and what you withhold.
You see, the real secret about script analysis is this: there is no magic to script analysis.
Jason Bennett, from the original Knowledge You Need for Script Analysis.
What happens in the room?
You read and reread the material. You note your first responses, images and questions. You identify what the writing tells you about the character, including what other people say and what the character says about themselves. You follow the events through the whole story, then through each scene.
You work with specific questions. What are you trying to get from the other person? What are you trying to change? Why now? What will happen if you fail? What do you do when your first approach does not work? You look for answers in the writing and make your choices specific enough to act.
You also work through imagination and improvisation. You investigate the character’s history, the place, the relationship and what has happened just before the scene. You read aloud, try the scene and return to your questions. A choice that seemed convincing on paper has to work in the exchange with your partner.
We will read through much of the script, improvising as we go.
Jason Bennett, from his script analysis class description.
You pay attention to the world around the characters. Who has money, authority or access? Who sets the rules in the room? What does each person believe is right? Research gives your imagination particulars. Your interpretation remains answerable to what the characters actually say and do.
Who is this work for?
You might be reading your first play or preparing material after years of training. You might have a clear intellectual account of a character but struggle to make it active. You might keep making the same choices in different roles. You bring the material and the questions that matter to your work.
You use analysis alongside your voice, body and imagination. Your preparation serves the scene: what you need from another person, what you do about it and what changes when they respond.
Begin with a conversation
Study Script and Character Analysis with Jason Bennett. Begin with a brief phone conversation.