The Cast of Johann Faustus met for the first time yesterday evening. After a few minutes of social chit chat, producer and director Bryan Muscat, gave a start to the session.

Characterization guidelines were handed out to each actor. They had a few minutes to go through the points, and then a short discussion ensued. When all questions were answered, Bryan asked the cast to start working on their character profile within the coming months.

'During this process the actors must build up the whole history of the character. They must create the character's memories; likes and dislikes, parents, upbringing, childhood, friends, school, activities and so on and so forth', said Bryan Muscat.

During the character profile building the actors will be working at home, on their own, however they are free to contact the director to discuss certain issues. When they finish their first draft (which approximately takes about 8 weeks), the actors will send their profile to Bryan, and he will then discuss the profile, maybe suggest some corrections, amendments, addenda or deletion. Once the process is finalized, the actors will then start studying the approved finalized profile.

'We then schedule the rehearsals, and the actors are given enough time to study the script. The first day of rehearsal, the cast will know the lines, and also the character well enough to start the real work.. putting the pieces together, and working out on the proper emotions and balance' said Muscat.

The characterization process is no easy task, especially in the case of the seven deadly sins, were their character is abstract. Rowena, playing the part of IRA (Wrath), asked precisely how to go about building a profile for a character who has no past.. no memories to build on. 'In this case', said Bryan, 'you have to create her present state. She has no past and nor future, yet she was in the past and will be in the future. She's been there since the creation of mankind; and will be there till the end of mankind. She doesn't change. So there were no incidents that made her who she is. She became as she is. Maybe you can create how she came about.. how wrath came about, that is'.

On the other hand, although it is easier to create a real persona character, there is much more work involved in creating the profile of the other characters, since they have to create their whole life... especially if the character is old.. there's more to write. A difficult task, yet very fruitful and rewarding at the end of it.

The cast than started going through the script, where all the actors read through their lines together. After a short break, the cast went through the second act. Bryan then informed all that more reading sessions will be held, during the characterization period, to emphasize on tonalities and important emotions. 'This will give the cast the chance to know better what's my vision, so that when they're studying the lines, they'll be able to study with the right tonality and emotion. It will not be a rehearsal.. it'll be a second, a third reading.

At the end of the evening, everybody had a better feel as they heard the different 'voices' read their lines.