ALICE LEVINE:'I'm Alice Levine, and I'm most definitely not an actress. But I've been asked to perform, for one night only, in War Horse on the West End. I have no idea what I'm doing'
ALICE LEVINE:Oh lord.
ALICE LEVINE:'So I have to learn everything I can before I take to the stage.'
ALICE LEVINE:Go War Horse!
ALICE LEVINE:'Today, it's all about developing my character.'
ALICE LEVINE:Now, if I'm gonna complete my role on stage properly, I need to learn how to fully embrace my character. Today, I've come to somewhere where actors have to, on a daily basis, take their characters to new and exciting place. I'm only on the set of Hollyoaks!
ALICE LEVINE:'And I'm about to catch-up with Hollyoaks long-term resident, John-Paul McQueen, who's played by James Stutton'
ALICE LEVINE:So James, where do you begin with a character?
JOHN-PAUL MCQUEEN:Start with the shoes. Always start at the bottom and work your way up. Get the shoes right and everything else grows from there. 'Cause that changes how you hold yourself, how you walk, it's all, it's all, it's all-- it's not as technical as you might think.
ALICE LEVINE:Really? So if I just pick the right pair of pumps then I'm away.
JOHN-PAUL MCQUEEN:The pumps that would fit the character. Say if you were playing a high-status business woman, and you've got big stilettos on, that's gonna change the way you, you hold yourself physically up here, and that's gonna make you walk tall and high-status, you see. You've gotta be aware of, of where your character's, where your character's been and where they're going as well. Because the nature of a soap, suddenly you can be-- Your character can be doing something really fast and high-paced and dramatic, and then the next week, really low subtle.
CHILD ACTOR:Why can't you and my daddy be together anymore?
JOHN-PAUL MCQUEEN:Because… Because I don't know your daddy as well as I thought I did.
ALICE LEVINE:Obviously some characters will have a voice that resembles your own, But that doesn't–
JOHN-PAUL MCQUEEN:And that's fine, And that's okay.
ALICE LEVINE:That's okay.
JOHN-PAUL MCQUEEN:That's absolutely okay. Your own voice is often fine. As long as-- You can't get away with a thick Dublin accent if you're playing someone from the east end of London.
ALICE LEVINE:Half of me is very glad we had this conversation, but the other half thinks I've got a long way to go.
JOHN-PAUL MCQUEEN:I'm sorry about that. I don't know what you want from me.
ALICE LEVINE:You've given all you can, James.
JOHN-PAUL MCQUEEN:I've done, I've done all I can.
ALICE LEVINE:You've done all you can.
JOHN-PAUL MCQUEEN:The rest, The rest, my love, rests with you.
ALICE LEVINE:Anna, thank you for helping me out here. You obviously play Sienna on Hollyoaks. I really need some tips from you.
ACTOR #1:Just hurry up!
ALICE LEVINE:What do you draw on for those maybe more extreme moments? How do you know how to react, because I imagine that's not something you would possibly do.
ANNA PASSEY:No. I find music is a very helpful thing for that.
ALICE LEVINE:Okay.
ANNA PASSEY:So I think most of the people who work here
ANNA PASSEY:always have their iPhones or whatever, they have their little MP3 players and have their music set. So then you can go off and listen to some really dramatic music for a ten minute period before and get yourself all psyched up. Also once you've got your headphones in you really focus on what you're doing and then you don't get distracted with do I look stupid? Who's watching that? What if it goes wrong? Just focus on that, so I think that can be quite helpful. In my first week I had a scene where I had to breastfeed somebody else's baby. It was just the most uncomfortable situation I think I've ever been in. That was a tough one, I really had to go back to the poor childhood,
ANNA PASSEY:and that it didn't have a mum, and wants her own kids and never been,
ANNA PASSEY:so you have to build all this up so that when you get there you think, I'm justified in doing this, even though you're all judging me, even though I'm playing a part. I can see it in your faces.
ALICE LEVINE:There'll be certain scenes where you're commanding the room, or where you're maybe a smaller presence, how do you hold yourself as Sienna?
ANNA PASSEY:When she's confident she's all upright, and how she would like to be, and then, at the other times, there's often scenes with Patrick and Sienna where they're fighting a lot, and he tends to always win out in the end. It's really useful to change your physicality, and it's like nature isn't it? So when you're trying to be hidden you make yourself as small as possible. It's almost like somebody could watch the scene with the sound off and you would still get what's going on.
ALICE LEVINE:I've learnt so much about characterisation on the set of Hollyoaks today. Number one: think about your character's journey, there's a reason for all of their actions. Number two, physicality, the way they move the way they dressed, can help unlock what's going on in their head.
ALICE LEVINE:'Try different things to help you get into the role, like listening to different types of music. Think of the social, cultural, and historical influences on your character.'
ALICE LEVINE:But the golden rule, the thing that you cannot forget, is get the shoes right.
Alice Levine visits the set of soap opera Hollyoaks to find out how the actors there create their characters.
James Sutton who plays John-Paul advises her to think of the physicality of her character, whilst Anna Passey who plays Sienna suggests techniques to help her get into and hold her character.
Alice learns to think about her character's backstory, and the social, cultural and historical influences that affect her.
Teacher Notes
Students could write a pre-curtain history for their character considering the social, cultural and historical influences.
Students could devise scenes that shows their character in a situation that isn't presented in the play that they are studying.
When reading the play they could highlight possible opportunities for off text improvisation to support them in the development of their role.
Curriculum Notes
This clip will be useful for teaching Drama, particularly performance skills at Key Stage 4 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and National 4/5 in Scotland. It could also be useful for people of any age preparing for an acting role.
More from Alice's Journey to Wonderland
Using your voice (pt 2/8) video
Alice takes a voice lesson from Ben Aldridge, star of BBC One's Our Girl to learn more about using her voice in performance.
Set and costume (pt 3/8) video
Alice visits the set of hit West End musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to find out how the elaborate set was designed, and how set and costume help tell the story.
Improvisation techniques (pt 4/8) video
Alice visits the Comedy Store in London and learns some improvisation techniques from actor / comedian Isy Suttie (Dobby from Peep Show).
Working with multimedia (pt 5/8) video
Alice visits the set of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time to find out how working with multimedia can help her on her journey to become a West End actress.
Working with a Director (pt 6/8) video
Alice visits the set of CBBC drama Wolfblood and talks to actor Jacqueline Boatswain who plays Victoria Sweeney about how to get the most out of working with a director.
Preparing for a role (pt 7/8) video
It's almost time for Alice Levine to make her West End debut in War Horse. She gets some last minute tips from lead actor James Backway and gets on her costume and makeup.
The big performance (pt 8/8) video
Alice is finally ready to rehearse for her West End debut in War Horse. She works through her lines and character with the director and other actors, before performing.
