Using Given Circumstances in your Acting
Chances are, if you’ve ever found yourself in an acting class—anything from a one-off course to a three-year drama school degree—you will have encountered the concept of given circumstances. They are those fundamental questions we ask ourselves about a character: who, where, when, why, what and how? In fact, GC’s are so fundamental that actors all too often forget what powerful tools they can be in the shaping of a performance. They might write them down when they first start analysing the script, but they are quickly forgotten. Let’s buck this trend with a talk about using given circumstances in your acting.
Using given circumstances in your acting grounds your choices, providing context to your scene and depth to your character. Furthermore, given circumstances can act as modifiers to your scene—altering aspects of your performance that might raise the stakes and dramatic tension.
This article is intended to be a practical guide. We’ll look over each of the central questions of the given circumstances and discuss how each of them can be used to modify and improve your performance.
What are Given Circumstances?
Given circumstances are a series of questions, attributed to Russian practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, designed to bring a sense of reality and truth to an actor’s performance. Stanislavski’s original questions have been refined by subsequent theatrical practitioners, who add their own interpretations or even new circumstances to consider. Ivana Chubbuck is one such practitioner, who is closely associated with the concept.
For further information on given circumstances, check out our dedicated article on the subject. For today, all you’ll need to bring is a basic understanding of those fundamental questions: who, where, when, why, what and how?
Using Given Circumstances in your Acting
As we mentioned above, given circumstances are often part of your early script analysis. They’re perfect for a quick grounding of ideas to make a character feel real. However, they’re often set aside in favour of more comprehensive investigation into the script, or as choices around setting or character begin to be agreed upon by a director and their cast.
Our advice is to return to them. Given circumstances can help you solve issues around your character and their motivations, often with simple solutions you’ve forgotten with more ‘in-depth’ acting choices. Wonder why your character’s crabby in a particular scene? Remember that it’s set in winter, on a cold morning with a fresh layer of snow. Maybe they’re cold…
Using Given Circumstances to Shape a Scene
If you’re performing an A/B scene, perhaps for an acting class or a showreel, given circumstances are powerful modifiers that can change up a character or situation completely. A shift in identity for a nameless character can completely subvert the power dynamic. If your scene has a time constraint placed upon it, or a different motivation for your character to achieve their goal, or different tactics they employ to get what they want … there’s no end to the work you can do.
Let’s look at the possibilities of each question on its own.
Who?
“Who am I?”
Use this question to explore you character’s identity. Take the time to uncover their past, their personality and what might motivate them towards their goals. Are they driven by greed, by revenge, by a selfless desire to make the world a better place?
Everything you do in performance has to be particular to your character. It has to be their means of solving a problem, of fighting for what they want. Tackling the “Who?” question and using given circumstances in your acting will help you establish this
Additional Tip: Try writing a character questionnaire to get to know your character. Focus as much on the big things as the small: sometimes the important details are the little things, like how they bite their nails whenever they try to lie to somebody.
Where?
“Where am I?”
The trick with “where” as a given circumstance is to be specific. Yes, an A/B scene might be radically different if you set it in a graveyard instead of a party shop. But if your character loves graveyards, or is scared of clowns… How does the setting of the story relate specifically to your character?
Don’t make assumptions based on your ideas of a certain location or world. It has to relate directly to your character, their history and the story they find themselves in.
Additional Tip: “Where” is also an opportunity to think about blocking in a scene, and stage directions. How does your character move physically through a space?
When?
“When is it?” “What time is it?”
“When” is one of the most versatile given circumstances—and often the least considered .As with “where”, be specific. Knowing the date or time period in which a scene is set is useful, but you can go further and think about the time of year, the season, the time of day. Certain times will have more significance for certain characters. The first day of summer is a cross on a calendar for a grown up; for a school kid, it marks the beginning of a magical time of possibilities.
The other consideration with “when” is time as a constraint. Is there a pressure on the scene? Is your character running late, or trying to find the bomb that’s ticking down but can’t do so because they have to hear their boring work friend’s story first? Use time to create urgency in an otherwise mellow, low-stakes scene.
Additional Tip: In life, we tend to time out when we have important conversations: we ask for favours when people are alert and happy, not tired and grumpy. Is your character a morning person? If not, an important phone call that comes in at 3am might temper the way they conduct themselves.
Why?
“Why am I here?” “And why do I want what I want?”
Use “why” to determine your motivation in a scene. This motivation is the reason your character has shown up on stage or set in the first place. When you know the “why”, your choices in a scene will be charged purpose, energy and stakes.
Along with “who” questions, “why” can also unlock some interesting things to consider for your character’s backstory. This aspect of “why” is a little more existential, and extends beyond the direct reasons for your character’s placement, wants or actions in the context of a given scene.
Additional Tip: Try writing a timeline for your character to track their motivations through the narrative. The timeline can even extend beyond the written story, incorporating the backstory provided either by yourself or hinted at by the author.
What?
“What do I want?”
No doubt about it: this is the most important question, because it relates to your objective. Every character in every scene ever written has an objective, some kind of goal, that they’re fighting for. Without it, there’s no drive to the action or conflict to the drama.
Asking yourself “What do I want?” will force you to consider your objective. And it’s not just your goal—it’s the reason the scene exists at all. If you’re playing a scene in which two characters absolutely hate each other, you have to find the reason they don’t immediately run away from each other, or tear at each other’s throats.
Additional Tip: Stanislavski said that actors should ask themselves the given circumstances questions constantly throughout a scene. You should do the same for “What?” to ensure that your objective hasn’t changed. If it’s been achieved, or is no longer possible, your character has to figure out what they want next.
How?
“How am I going to get what I want?”
Once you’ve got the “what” of your objective established, you can start plotting your actions: the tactics your character employs to get what they want. There are far too many actors who think that answering “how” will rob them of the chance to be spontaneous, or lock them into boring choices. However, asking yourself “how” gives your character the best possible chance to enact change in their scene partner. It helps you select your target, take aim and fire.
As for spontaneity, consider—in your own life—how you prepare for a difficult conversation, or broach the topic of an important favour to be asked. If you really care about what you want, you absolutely plan your course of action with the person you’re speaking to! And if your tactics fail, you think about the next best option.
Additional Tip: We know we’re repeating ourselves at this point, but make your chosen actions specific to your character. A particular tactic might be a no-brainer in a given situation—to charm somebody you’re asking favour of, perhaps. However, if your character isn’t naturally charming, this action won’t be the proper, believable fit for them…
Conclusion
So there you have it: our comprehensive guide to using given circumstances in your acting! As a parting piece of advice: don’t stop asking the questions. Ask them throughout the rehearsal and development process, and even as you’re working the scene on stage or screen, ask them some more.
Given circumstances, like any part of the acting process, can change based on your discoveries or work on set or stage. So be open to these discoveries! And enjoy how they improve and complexify your performance all the more. This kind of work always pays off.
Good luck!
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