The given circumstances of a character is the information about the character and who they are and the play as a whole. How old is the character? What’s their situation in the play and in relation to the other characters? Are there any notes provided about the play and its characters? These are questions and queries that are important to fully embodying a character to get that realistic look and to implement naturalism into both the character and the performance.
The aim of this was to put the actor into the characters shoes and act as if it was them, therefore, this required the actor to ask themselves fundamental questions:
Who Am I? (Name of Character, Age)
When Is It? (Time of Day, Year, Season, Era the Play is set in)
Where Am I? (Location in the Scene, Country, Town, Place)
What Relationships Do I Have? (Relationships with other Characters or Objects)
What Happened Before The Play Started? (Everything that Happened before/after the Scene)
Therefore, when the actor is in a scene as their character, they can implement what they know about their character's given circumstances to influence how they are as a person based on the playwright's intentions. This then means the character is more developed and this will translate to the audience, because the more an actor understands their character and their intentions in the performance's situation, the more fleshed out and believeable it will come.