Character analysis

From reading the text through, as a cast, with my scene partner, my director and on my own; I
can understand that my character is that of a 14 year old boy, set in medieval England, He is
of high status as he is a Baron, and he has also “pissed himself”. From context of this scene I
can also see that he is going through, what seems to be, his first heartbreak, And from the
play as a whole I came to the conclusion that this scene acts as more of a flashback or a
fantasy-like dream where there are other characters from the play on-looking our scene. From
this I could understand that my scene had to be very stereotypical of teenage heartbreak and
over the top, almost as if it was a play performed within a play, to highlight how ridiculous
the scenario is. What else influenced this was the choice of language used in the text, the
writer used modern language as opposed to the medieval time period, such as: “popular”,
“tits” and “dunno”.
Prior to this scene, there is another scene set in modern times which also details a heartbreak
and my scene is used an as example as to how heartbreak has always been a normal thing.
My character has obviously never felt this way before, and being a teenager myself I can
relate to having my first teenage heartbreak, so I can imagine how this must be what’s
consuming his mind at the moment and weighing on him greatly. From the text I can infer his
objective of this scene is to seek somewhat closure but, more comfort. And the fact of the
matter is he feels so hurt by the situation and is looking for some way to move past what has
happened.
Although he is very hurt by the situation, this scene is also quite comical in the fact that he is
being very dramatic about it all, and I feel like this is used in a way of which my character is
putting on a front, being dramatic, and expressing his emotions so that no one can see how
vulnerable he really is. We can see this as the dynamic changes throughout the scene where at
the beginning the text is very focused on himself whereas as it progresses he is brought back
down to earth to see the reality of things as opposed to ranting on about how he will never be
the same again, but in reality he knows that it is a long and difficult emotional journey that he
has to go on before he can feel okay again.
When developing my character, I worked closely with my director and spoke to her first on
how she wanted the character to be portrayed. I was told that there was a sibling relationship
dynamic between me and the other character so it could be more playful in that way, but also
more sincere in the fact that they have a close relationship with their sister, one of which they
feel comfortable speaking about this type of thing with. I soon realised that I wanted my
character to be quite humorous, one of which the audience can relate to but also one they can
laugh with. When in rehearsals I made it a point to use my body language and gestures and
tone of voice to elevate my status in the scene and to highlight the irony of the scenario which
is what I thought the audience would find most amusing, where most people who feel upset
or hurt may have low energy levels, smaller movements and a closed off body position, I
found myself to be more flamboyant with my movement, which I feel as though my character
uses as a coping mechanism, to reinsert his status and to contrast with the end of the scene
where he is feeling more vulnerable, in which case he does become more closed off and his
energy levels drop.
Taking backstory into consideration, I feel as though my character has not had the best
upbringing, with perhaps absent parents, a reason in which he relies so heavily on his sister,
and why he maybe felt so dependant on his late partner, explaining why it hurt him so deeply.
In some cases, this creates co-dependency which allowed me to take the route of having quite
an emotionally stimulative personality, displaying large feelings and sensitivities when it
comes to topics like these.