The Encyclopedia of Interactive Performance

The given circumstances of a scene consist of any story elements that affect characters’ behaviors. They include the context of character, activity, and location. Other things like backstory, goals, and historical context can also come into play.

The key to given circumstance is specificity. Specific details give rise to specific behaviors. Knowing that you’re in a toilet is a start. When you know that it’s a grungy public toilet in a bus station at 3:00 a.m., there’s much more to play with.

For the details to be useful, they need to affect your character’s behavior. If the given circumstance doesn’t affect you, it’s not serving its purpose. Find the ways that the details impact you emotionally, physically, and verbally.

When you’re working from a script, there’s time to build and explore the given circumstances before performing. If you’re improvising, the given circumstance needs to be developed on the fly. It’s a bit like reverse engineering. You exhibit specific behaviors before you know why, then you discover the reasons. These reasons become the given circumstances within which your character is living.

Consider the given circumstances and find ways for them to affect your character’s behavior.