Stanislavski's Character Building Techniques

In this post I will be looking at how to build the character of Julie J by means of looking at Stanislavski's work as a guide and then creating my own character from there.

One of the first steps Stanislavski puts in place to build a character is looking at external figures and picking up gestures or physical aspects of other people and then amplifying them. For example if someone stood with their shoulders rounded forward, you would copy that form and multiply it to make it bigger and more obvious and after doing that you would adjust it to see if you felt it suited your character.

"Each person evolves an external characterisation out of

himself according to his intuition and his observation of

himself and others." (Tortsov Stanislavski)

I took this technique and applied it to my own characterisation development. I looked at the way people walked, including their pace, posture and any other defining quality's they had and repeated them. I found that the quality's that I thought suited Julie J from watching her character in other performances was atributes such as slupped posture, fairly slow movement and not very direct and a bit of fidleing with clothes or hands etc.

Julie Johnston Background

In this post I will be looking at the background of my character, Julie Johnston. I will first research her character from the original Bad Girls series on TV and then expand my research into the charascter from the musical production of Bad Girls.

Here is a brief outline of Julie J's history in the Bad Girls series;

Sentence
Originally sentenced to two years for theft, but now serving a term of eight years for GBH with intent.

Background
Real name Sonya Dawson. Her ex-husband, Andy, took their three children, Rhiannon, Martin, and Gary, to America after she was sentenced and got a restraining order to prevent her from seeing them.

Profile
Just like her best friend Julie S, Julie J is a popular inmate. She's soft-hearted, kind, and extremely loyal to her friends on G-Wing. Emotionally weaker and more unstable than her partner-in-crime Julie S, Julie J relies heavily on her to stop people taking advantage of her kind heart and gullibility.
Julie misses her children dreadfully, but she realises that she will probably have a proper relationship with them. As time wears on, the prospect of living with Julie S and her son becomes the most important thing in her life, but when Julie S is diagnosed with breast cancer, the dream began to look like just another fantasy.

Julie S is now thankfully in remission, but she has made it clear that she will refuse treatment in the event of her cancer returning. Although she respects her friend's wishes, Julie J has been vocal in her opposition.

Here is a brief outline of the Julie's characters in the Musical Theatre production;

The Julies have taken the same name and styled themselves as a sisterly double act. They’ll always be there for each another and that’s their lifeline for surviving prison. Both are mums, and it was trying to make ends meet for their children that drove them into prostitution in the first place. Julie S has a son, David, whose private education is paid for with the proceeds from her life of crime. They’ve got hearts of gold and will always help a friend in need.

 

 

 

http://www.badgirls.co.uk/library/int-s4-km.html
http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_b/badgirls.html