Thought-tracking and hot-seating
A thought-track is when a character steps out of a scene to address the audience about how they’re feeling. Sharing thoughts in this way provides deeper insight into the character for an audience.
In rehearsal it’s an effective way of exploring characters and scenes in greater depth. Stopping the action and sharing thoughts enables the actor to fully understand how their character thinks or feels at any given moment. Sometimes the character might feel something different to the words they’re speaking. This is called subtext and thought-tracking is a useful way of exploring it to realise the many layers within a scene.
Hot-seating
This is an exercise to deepen understanding of character. An actor sits in the hot-seat and is questioned in role, spontaneously answering questions they may not have considered before.
Hot-seating helps an actor become more familiar with their role. The questioners should also act as observers as feedback can be very useful.
Ask questions that force the actor to consider the life of their character in depth and beyond the world of the play. You could ask them about home life, childhood, family relationships, hopes, fears, hobbies and how they feel about other characters.
Make a note of any mannerisms that emerge which can be incorporated into performance, such as twisting hands out of nervousness or speaking slowly with a serious tone of voice and fixed eye contact. If something works for the character you are playing, keep it.
