An objective is what a character wants during a scene. To get to their objective, they have to use tactics. The best objectives are the ones that can be played with actions. For example, playing 'to observe' would be a good objective however playing 'to persuade' would not be a good objective because you can't play it just with actions.
In Mr Rennison's lesson, we used a scene from a Midsummer Night's Dream: this would help us practise the technique of playing objectives using tactics -
ENTER DEMETRIUS, HELENA FOLLOWING HIM
Demetrius: I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Hence, get thee gone and follow me no more.
Helena: You draw me, you hard hearted adamant.
Demetrius: Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? Or rather do I no in plainest truth tell you I do not nor I cannot love you?
Helena: And even for that do I love thee the more.
Demetrius: Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit: for I am sick when I do look on thee.
Helena: And I am sick when I look not on you.
EXIT DEMETRIUS
I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell. To die upon the hand I love so well.
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Demetrius:
Demetrius' objective in this scene is 'to reject'.
Some of the tactics used to get Demetrius to his objective were to be cold, to escape, to restrain, to reject, to keep away from.
Helena:
Helena's objective in this scene is 'to seduce'.
Some of the tactics she used to get to her objective were to follow, to restrain, to touch, to compliment.
This exercise was important because it helped me practise the method of identifying tactics and objectives.
It also helped me understand that you can't really perform an objective unless you fully commit and feel convinced yourself that you want this objective.
As learnt in Term 1 acting skills, it proved the fact that the text rides on the action. When performing as Demetrius, I knew that performing the tactic of 'to escape' involved having to literally escape. However, at some points, this delayed the text and although the action is more important than the text, the text was still included by the playwright for a specific reason.
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In Mr Stephen's class, we looked at the same piece of text and again highlighted the objectives and tactics of Demetrius and Helena.
I understood from repeating this exercise that as an actor, it is very useful to know your objective and the tactics you will use to get to the aim. This is because it was a lot clear to people watching what your objective was and what was going on if you knew what you were doing and understood the character's tactics whereas if you were just improvising and losing the objective.
We also did an exercise involving the words No/Yes.
The first round we did it, we had to try and persuade our partner to get to our way of thinking naturally but only with the words No and Yes. (Person A said Yes and Person B said No) Often, most of us used gestures such as ushering or following the person around.
The second round we did it, we could only use our dialogue. This was difficult because our movement was restricted so we had to use tone of voice to communicate our point instead but the meaning of the words usually got lost. This emphasises how important actions are and how the text rides on the action at all times.
The last round we did it, we only used action. From observing other people's performances, I realised that action is a lot more clearer when communicating with no dialogue than only communicating with dialogue. This is because your facial expressions and body language are stronger and more definitive than words, which could have different interpreted meanings.
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Mr Rennison gave us a diagram to work from when identifying the objectives and tactics of a character in the future:
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Demetrius:
Demetrius' objective in this scene is 'to reject'.
Some of the tactics used to get Demetrius to his objective were to be cold, to escape, to restrain, to reject, to keep away from.
Helena:
Helena's objective in this scene is 'to seduce'.
Some of the tactics she used to get to her objective were to follow, to restrain, to touch, to compliment.
This exercise was important because it helped me practise the method of identifying tactics and objectives.
It also helped me understand that you can't really perform an objective unless you fully commit and feel convinced yourself that you want this objective.
As learnt in Term 1 acting skills, it proved the fact that the text rides on the action. When performing as Demetrius, I knew that performing the tactic of 'to escape' involved having to literally escape. However, at some points, this delayed the text and although the action is more important than the text, the text was still included by the playwright for a specific reason.
-
In Mr Stephen's class, we looked at the same piece of text and again highlighted the objectives and tactics of Demetrius and Helena.
I understood from repeating this exercise that as an actor, it is very useful to know your objective and the tactics you will use to get to the aim. This is because it was a lot clear to people watching what your objective was and what was going on if you knew what you were doing and understood the character's tactics whereas if you were just improvising and losing the objective.
We also did an exercise involving the words No/Yes.
The first round we did it, we had to try and persuade our partner to get to our way of thinking naturally but only with the words No and Yes. (Person A said Yes and Person B said No) Often, most of us used gestures such as ushering or following the person around.
The second round we did it, we could only use our dialogue. This was difficult because our movement was restricted so we had to use tone of voice to communicate our point instead but the meaning of the words usually got lost. This emphasises how important actions are and how the text rides on the action at all times.
The last round we did it, we only used action. From observing other people's performances, I realised that action is a lot more clearer when communicating with no dialogue than only communicating with dialogue. This is because your facial expressions and body language are stronger and more definitive than words, which could have different interpreted meanings.
-
Mr Rennison gave us a diagram to work from when identifying the objectives and tactics of a character in the future:
I used Oberon as an example. Unit 7 is his first scene therefore at Unit 7 I have labelled his objective: to get the boy and underneath I have labelled the tactics used to get to the objective. Overhead, there is a blue line to symbolise how his super objective (his objective for the whole play) is mostly displayed in the play. The blue line will contrast for different characters.
Here are some transitive verbs that I am going to use to help me understand and label objectives and tactics for the future.
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