Given circumstances refer to the environmental and situational conditions of a scene. The given circumstances are incredibly useful to build a detailed world for your characters to inhabit.

Referring to the text extract you used for the previous exercise and your list of facts and questions, work your way through each of the questions below and write out your answers, being as specific as possible. Under each main question, we’ve added some additional prompts to allow you to be more specific.

It may be that the text you are working from doesn’t give you the answers to all the questions below, in which case you will need to make some decisions based on your concept for this production. Remember, you don’t have to get everything right at this stage and you can change your mind later on.

Where?

• Where in the world does the scene take place; in what country, city, street, room?
• Is this location familiar to the characters?

Once you have honed in on a specific location for the scene, create a mini moodboard of images and photographs (you can find these online) to help you capture the look and feel of this location.

When?

• What year?
• What season?
• What month?
• What time of day?
• How does all this effect the mood of the character?

Once you have honed in on a specific time period in which the scene takes place, create another mini moodboard of images and photographs.

Who are your characters?

• What is their age?
• What is their gender?
• What is their relationship to each other?
• How long have they known each other?
• What are their likes and dislikes?
• What is their occupation?

Add anything else that feels important to your interpretation.

What have they just been doing before the scene begins?

• Where have they just come from?
• Have they been talking before the scene begins?

Why are they doing what they are doing?

• Why are they here?
• What do they want?

If useful, take another look at the exercise on objectives from our Introduction to Directing workshop.

This exercise is something you can do as part of your preparation before rehearsals begin, but it’s also an exercise you should do with your actors during rehearsals. Be prepared for your initial ideas to change and to be inspired by your actors’ suggestions. Directing is all about collaboration and building a world together.

This exercise is also a helpful one to do with your designer, as it can help you clarify what elements of the production you think are important to demonstrate visually.