What does my character want?

My character wants to convince the king that she is not a witch and that she should not be killed. Many times during the script my character tries to convince the king and his men about something that cannot legally be done, such as execute a saint or kill someone who is carrying a baby. She wants to live. 

What are other characters doing that prevent my character from having their objective?

The king is doubting my words and keeps on trying to make me confess to being a witch. Every time the king tries to execute my character, I try to come up with another reason for him to let me live each time. So, the king keeps on doubting me and trying to get me to say something that will be a good reason to let him kill me, he wants to kill me because he is sure that I am a witch and he is sure that I am not noble. 

Given that particular problem, what action does my character take to meet that objective?

The only action that my character takes to meet her initial objective of convincing them not to kill her because they think she is a witch is come up with new excuses the whole time which is guaranteed not allow them to kill her such as saying she is holy and saying she is with child. However, the action she does take is not very successful because everything she sais is not true and thus she can never back it up which in the end reveals her as lying to the king. I also curse the king and try to make them scared with saying that everything will go wrong for them if they kill me. Other than words, my character does not take any ‘physical’ action and the action she does take does not turn out well so she ends up being killed anyways.

A figment is a short play written by Ron Weaver. This play is set in the present and is not part of a bigger production or script. There are not much things needed to perform this piece; no props are needed except for a cellphone and the costumes are from modern times.

Who are you? Make a profile of your character –age, sex, occupation, education, health…-
I am a woman in her early thirties and am older than the male character I am acting with.  My occupation is being an actress and based on the script my knowledge is quite limited to knowing a lot about acting and things such as the ‘fourth wall’. There is nothing in the script that shows that I am in bad shape or condition, I am happy with my job, am happy to perform in front of people and I only say things that are logic which shows that my mind is also in healthy state and that I am happy with my life and based on the fact that I am able to act (remember lines) it shows that I am able to remember things so I do not have any diseases which make me forgetful. Overall I am in good health. 

Where are you?

We are on a performance stage, a very average theater, an audience is present and there is no set so the stage is just plain the stage and us two characters.

Why are you here?

I am here because I am performing a piece to the audience, at first the audience does not know that it is a play but because I am trying to prove a point with the little play, in the end, I say the consequences and say goodbye to the audience which then tells them that we were performing a play.

What do you see and hear in your immediate and also in your more distant environment?

Because I am inside a theater performing to an audience, the only talking that I hear is that of the other character in the duologue. The only thing I see during the duologue is an imaginary ‘fourth wall’ which cannot be seen but can only be felt. The other sound I hear is that of my boss talking to me on the phone, but this is imaginary. My phone vibrates at one point in the play, which I only feel but I announce it to everyone around me. Other than that because we are in a theater, there are no sounds or sights from more distant environments because there is no distant environment.

What time of day or night is it? What season of the year and in what country?

The country is the United States of America and because it is inside a theater there is no day or night description as well as not knowing the season due to the theater being indoors and thus no information about that is given.

What is the journey of your character and how does she change in the course of the text?

There is no physical journey for my character but there is a journey of sharing. The purpose of my character is to inform the audience about ‘character assassination’ in the show business.  Therefore the journey of my character is purely based on how she starts off being a miss know-it-all because she keeps on talking about these things that the other character denies and keeps on saying that she is right, and she takes the journey of acting out character assassination with the other character to end up being a normal actress who was just doing her job whom completed the journey of sharing her story about character assassination. My character changes throughout the script because she starts out to be someone else than who she actually is since she is pretending to be someone, for the time that she is that person she stays the same but when she is herself again she changes to be more likeable and less know-it-all. 

Write a definition of subtext in your own words

Subtext is saying something or showing something without directly saying/showing it. Subtext refers to another theme/emotion within the dialogue or actions either between two or more people or within someone without directly mentioning it or saying/showing it. Subtext is used in theatre where one character might be feeling something else than they are saying but express it in a way that refers to another emotion, it is also used in movies to show more stories, themes, relationships and characters without directly showing the audience. Subtext draws the reader deeper into character and story, which is why it is always good to have subtext. 
An example of subtext is 'what have you been doing?' because if said excitedly, angrily, impressed, interested, disgusted or many more, it will mean different things and will portray another emotion within the sentence without directly saying that emotion. Another example of this is if you say 'not much' if someone asks you 'what's going on?', depending on how you say 'not much' you will be using subtext to express your feelings and emotions/situation and people will be able to infer what you really mean or what emotion you really want to express based on the subtext used.

How did writing subtext change your understanding and performance of your character?

I felt that when I started to think of subtext I was able to understand not only my character but also my play more because the subtext really showed what kind of character I am going to be because it showed that my character is very strong of opinion and even with subtext she always wants to point out that she is right and that everything the other character says is obvious (as if she is smarter than him), I am also more sure of how my character is supposed to behave now because through the subtext the attitude of the character becomes very clear as an actor because you are more aware of what kind of attitude you are supposed have and what kind of voice, body, movement and space I should portray so that it fits with my character. For example, I now know that I should be annoyed in subtext because Jake is not behaving the way I like (does not listen, is behaving stupid according to my character…) but also satisfied because I get to tell him the answers to everything because it makes me look smart which in subtext is me being obvious as well as showing off in some way and putting emphasis on the fact that I know things better than him. The subtext really enhances my performance and strengthens my character.

Have there ever been any times in your life where subtext has caused conflict? How and Why?

I have had a few times where subtext has done something to the relationship of me and someone else. I often find this happening at school, it happened to myself a few times as well; because at school some people do not speak English very well or do not understand everything that you say or mean to say, if you use subtext they might misinterpret what you said to being something offensive or mean against them or someone they care about, which is not your intention. What happened a few times to me was when I said something with subtext (sarcasm) which is not even mean if interpreted wrong, but because other people do not understand and so feel offended whilst it is not meant to offend them and that something causes them to be a little mad or embarrassed. However, subtext like that has never done anything bad between me and someone else, it has only caused me to explain it to that person so that he/she understands what I meant. I have learned though, that because many people do not pick up on subtext, you really need to pay attention to who you are talking to using subtext so that a situation like that can be prevented. Other than those moments, subtext has often brought me joyous moments with my friends and family because subtext often gives another meaning, which really makes people laugh in certain situations which has only made my relationship with that person better and stronger. Overall subtext is really helpful because it can help you pick up on when a person does not feel like directly telling everybody that something is wrong, and if you pick up on this than it is a lot easier to help, so I find subtext to be very helpful but also sometimes annoying because some people never pick up on subtext.