Q- What is a back-story?

A back story is a bit of a characters life at home or with their family. Somewhere that you wouldn’t normally see; but now it shows you where they have come from.

back·sto·ry

  /ˈbækˌstɔri, ‐ˌstoʊri/ Show Spelled[bak-stawr-ee, ‐stohr-ee] Show IPA

noun, plural back·sto·ries.

1.

a narrative providing a history or background context, especially for a character or situation in a literary work, film, or dramatic series

Q- Why is it important for actors to understand their character’s backstory?

Because it gives them more of an insight into their lives, and it is easier to relate to the character, as you know more about him/her. It also makes it easier to act as you feel more in the shoes of that character the more you know.

Q -What did you create as a snapshot of your character’s world? Describe what you did and link your choices to the play.

My group did a scene at home, where Leah was being ignored by both of her parents, and they didn’t really care about her. She was then left by herself and she was trying to call all of her friends, but they were not listening to her and she was making things up to talk to them about. She talked and talked to not think about anything else, but when she was left alone with no one, you could tell how upset she was, as all the thoughts were running through her mind, and she couldn’t talk to distract herself.

Q - What did another group create? Was it effective, why?

I think that it was Ursula’s group who really stood out for me. They showed the reality of abuse within a family, and real life family problems, (e.g. Tyler being schizophrenic and self harming, the abuse of the wife etc) it then showed Tyler hanging out with two of his friends, until suddenly we realised they were the voices in his head. I thought that this was really clever, as we never realised, until the twist at the end.