A Transactional Analysis of marital games in a selected group of modern American plays

In the preparation of production a major problem facing actors and directors is determining the psychological motivation for each character in the play. In acting this process is often referred to as the development of inner technique. Each actor must decide for him or herself what the motivation is that causes his or her character to interact in specific ways with others. Directors have the responsibility of helping actors make appropriate choices for character behavior and motivation.;Transactional Analysis developed by Eric Berne, is a theory of human personality and behavior that was used as a method of discovering character motivation. Berne's psychological Game Analysis was used to determine specific motivation of the married couples in five post World War II American dramas. The transactions of married couples were analyzed based on the social transactions found in the nonverbal subtext. The Game Analysis model developed by Berne and the Drama Triangle developed by Stephen Karpman, were used to determine and analyze the psychological games being played. The transactional dynamics of the games were both described and illustrated.;Transactional Game Analysis is an effective tool for providing actors and directors with insight into the psychological life of characters and with concrete verbal and non-verbal interpretative choices as well. In the plays chosen for analysis, games played by married couples tend to be repetitive. The game of ALCOHOLIC is the most repetitive of the games played.