Drama strategy: Given Circumstances

Teaching ‘given circumstances’ not only helps students with their acting performance but also with empathy. Asking students to imagine what they would do under a certain set of given circumstances, and then what their character would do, broadens the mind and helps a person to put themselves in someone else's shoes.

The term ‘given circumstances’ was coined by Konstantin Stanislavsky. Given circumstances refer to the environmental, historical, and situational conditions a character finds themselves in. For Stanislavsky, six questions make up a character's given circumstances:

Whether working on a script or an improvisation, listing a character's given circumstances is time well spent. Sometimes students worry about finding the ‘right answers’, but it's good to remind them that there can be many different interpretations and it's okay to go with their personal interpretation. Here are three activities to get you started when teaching given circumstances.