On-stage, as in life, a person's character is revealed through his actions and by his reasons for doing them. By asking these questions, the Actor begins to discover who his character is. Relationships Consider how your character relates to the other characters in the play. For instance, if your character is ordered to drink a beer, his relation with that beer will be different than if he's thankfully quenching his thirst on a hot summer day. Objects become very good partners when they're imbued with a meaningful relationship.
Objects can provide the same psychological stimulus as another character can.
A lot of these relationships will become evident through rehearsal but a few ideas beforehand will make your rehearsal process more productive. An Actor has no right to speak a line until he has discovered the reason for saying it. The subtext colors the line of text and will influence what words you stress and what your physical expressions are. Finding the Beats What a character does to accomplish each minor objective is called a beat. A beat is a unit of action and each beat is a necessary step toward the major objective.