Playhouse Creatures 7

Tempo - Rhythm

The tempo-rhythm technique is one of Stanislavski's theories that explains how your character's personality and objectives affect their tempo and rhythm. As humans we all have our own tempo and speed, this affects everything from how we talk to how we walk. It even affects our core tension, our Chi right in the heart of our belly. This is the same with our characters, and it's something we need to take into account.

What is your character's tempo rhythm?

Mrs Farley is a very free spirited woman. She is young and with few cares in the world. I think of her being like a bird, flitting from place to place, with neither her being or her interest staying long. She has a high tempo and an unsteady rhythm. She walks with a skip, she moves her head constantly like a dear trying to sense a predator. I think this comes partly from her youth and childishness, however I don't think this should be mistaken for naivety. Yesterday my group - myself, Heta, Jade and Sophia - played an improvisation game which involved asking questions to one another, such as "What's your most traumatic memory?" and "What was the most trouble you were in as a child?" etc and one by one we answered in character. It helped us get to know our characters and get into them by drawing up a history and Through Line Of Action. My improvisations revealed that Elizabeth in one of the darker, poorer parts of her memory, was solicited into having sex with a man to get enough money to feed her and her father. Later on, her father was killed in a brawl and she found him, although she didn't know if he was dead or alive by that point so she ran until she found the playhouse. Mrs. Farley has not had an entirely happy or easy life, she's got darkness inside of her, however she chooses to mask it. She pretends so hard to be happy that she actually convinces herself that she is. She chooses to find joy and excitement in life because that's what gets her through. However she will never forget what it is like to have nothing and what she has learnt from being hungry and not being able to get food, so this is what fuels her obsession for material good, power and wealth, so that she never has to be hungry again. This is what gives her the high tempo, she is often vulnerable and weak and does not have the intelligence or power to make it in the world, much like a dear or a rabbit, however she has her beauty, youth and charm and she must use this to her advantage, as she does.