Entrance and Welcome: An Exercise in Character Work

Objectives: highlight the value of stage presence even when a character is silent

Age: 6 and up

I created this two-part exercise to show participants two complementary aspects of character work: the importance of making a character recognizable, and the responsibility of fellow performers to recognize and reinforce the roles of characters who enter after them.

Part 1 – Entrance

The instruction is extremely simple, but always important: enter the performance space and make the audience recognize your character without saying a word, simply through your behavior.

I usually advise participants not to address the audience but, on the contrary, to ignore it. My aim is to help them concentrate more fully on their own actions and stay attuned to the character.

Naturally, adapting the task to the participants’ age, we need to distinguish between clarity and credibility.

First, the audience must be able to understand who is entering. Then the work must continue until the character is not only recognizable but also believable.

Part 2 – Welcome

In this second part, the whole group takes part, except for one participant at a time, who leaves the space.

While that participant is outside, the others decide who or what they will become and agree on how they will welcome them.

When the participant returns, the group must react to their presence convincingly, without explicitly revealing the transformation.

The surprise can be very powerful. By observing how the others react when they enter, the returning participant must work out who or what they have become.

This shows how the group’s behavior can transform someone into a character without their knowing it.

Some Examples

Whoever returns to the space can be transformed into:

• a movie star;

• a model, welcomed by serious, professional photographers;

• an athlete;

• a bride;

• a witch;

• a monster;

• a terrifyingly mean teacher, in whose presence no one dares do anything;

• a newborn baby;

• a coffin;

• someone everyone hates;

• a giant;

• a comedian;

• someone ridiculous—the way everyone laughs changes, as does the reason they are laughing;

• someone who has been shrunk;

• the Pope;

• a rock star performing in concert;

• someone everyone feels sorry for;

• someone who goes unnoticed;

• someone everyone envies;

• someone extraordinarily beautiful;

• someone extraordinarily ugly;

• someone strange;

• someone boring.

And so on.