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WANTS WANTS WANTS VERBS ACTIONS

Wants. Wants. Wants. Wants are what create drama. Wants are what give life to the character. Wants are what the waking individual is never without. Wants are perpetual. Wants cause action. Wants create conflict. Wants are the very energy man's life and the System of Wants is the aspect of character to which the actor gives his relentless and obsessive attention. The actor tracks down the wants. Everything else is classified as a condition. The golden key is the character's system of wants.

And after I have studied and structured and tested and assumed the character's system of wants, then, and only then, am I permitted to occupy their inner life and express their personality. Of all the questions I ask the character about themselves. the overwhelming majority have to do with their wants:

"What do you want?"

"What do you want now?"

"What is your ultimate want?"

"What do you want from the other person?"

"What do you want in the play?"

"What do you want in life?"

 

A character may want a motorboat, a wife, a moment's peace and quiet. These are nouns.

In another category, your character may want to earn enough money to buy a motorboat; they may want to win Georgia's heart, to eliminate the distractions to his peace of mind.

TO EARN

TO WIN

TO ELIMINATE

 

These verbs are the wants.

We narrow the focus of the actor's pursuit now by stating clearly that, for our purposes in theatre, they never wants nouns. Their wants are expressed as verbs.

When asked what a character wants, a skilled actor will never answer that they want an object, or a person, or a job, or love, or independence. A skilled actor always states the wants in the form of a verb. 

 

The behavior of an individual is caused by what he wants.  A serious actor doesn't give time or attention to any other aspect of the character until he has made a thorough study of what the character wants to do to others, or to their surroundings. The one thing that is perpetual and constant in the character's consciousness is that they are always wanting. There is never a moment when a human being is not wanting to do something. 

 

NOUNS

We have already narrowed our focus to eliminate nouns:

NOUN    I want a motorboat.   VERB  I want to EARN enough for a motorboat.

NOUN    I want a wife.              VERB  I want to WIN Georgia's heart.

NOUN    I want peace.              VERB I want to ELIMINATE distraction.

NOUN    I want attention.        VERB  I want to FASCINATE everyone.

NOUN    I want order                VERB  I want to ORGANIZE this mess.

 

ADJECTIVES

Now let us narrow further and eliminate adjectives:

ADJECTIVE I am angry with her.       VERB I want to DESTROY her.

ADJECTIVE I am nervous.                  VERB I want to FOCUS my attention.

ADJECTIVE I am frustrated.               VERB  I want to FIND a way out.

ADJECTIVE I am in love.                     VERB  I want to TAKE CARE of her forever.

ADJECTIVE I am being charming.      VERB  I want to DAZZLE the guests.

ADJECTIVE I am confused.                 VERB  I want to FIGURE OUT a solution.

ADJECTIVE I am drunk.                       VERB  I want to PRESERVE business as usual.

 ADJECTIVE I am friendly.                   VERB I want to WIN him over.

 ADJECTIVE I am arrogant.                  VERB I want to BELITTLE him.

 

 

 

 

Ball, William. A Sense of Direction. New York : Drama Book Publishers, 1984.

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