Feb 28 2009
Working Conditions - Backstory Part 2
In theatre, all characters have a backstory - information which the author has in his head which helps to shape the character’s words and actions.
I’d like to suggest that your “character” when you’re performing at Faire should also have a backstory. It doesn’t have to be massive - just a few thoughts as to why your character is “like that”.
Here’s mine:
Tobias the Adequate is a self-professed “hack magician”. Overeducated and underemployed - spent most of his six years at University studying things other than what he was assigned. Big, loud, silly looking and painfully aware of it. He’s bounced around a number of jobs and found that “magician” is one he’s the least inept at.
In short, he’s smart enough to know that you should not end a sentence in a preposition, yet dumb enough to write that last sentence up there.
I’ll get into how this backstory helps decide what tricks I do as Tobias the Adequate tomorrow.
