Process: Designing Actors Briefs

Character Sketches

We used the Harvard Scenario Building method to begin to frame our characters, but soon found that these characters were better suited to departments (menswear, womenswear, food, travel) than the quadrants we'd identified (personal: impersonal service, time: no time)


The characters were fleshed out, as we fed in certain trends we wished to explore: multiple households, androgyny, the grey pound, conscientious consumption, travel. The desk and live research we had undertaken also informed this part of our design process. An element of each character is drawn from life: Andi was spotted on a bus, Ada at a dinner party, Sandra through work experience, Jim through friends.

The briefs themselves vary in content. We wanted to test different briefing methods to compare results. An actor often gets very little guidance as to their character's traits: sometimes just a one-liner in a play. In this case, some we felt may have been over-written, but we trusted that the actor would interpret it correctly given the appropriate direction.

In order for a character to exist he/she also needs a world to live in. We used ARUP's Drivers of Change cards to brief the actors on their various worlds.

The actors were briefed approximately ten days prior to the workshop.