adolph@ssc-vax.UUCP (Mark Adolph) (11/30/84)
*** YOUR MESSAGE ***
This is aimed at all of you actors out there. I'm about to return to the
stage for the first time since high school, and I'm understandably nervous.
Being onstage is somewhat different from being in the booth where you can
correct most mistakes quietly. What I'd like to find are your little tricks
and suggestions for building a character and making that character come alive
onstage. What goes through your mind as you're working during rehearsals?
How do you blend this with what the director tells you? Do you depend on the
director to define your character, or do you decide the character's personality
and then try to mesh that with the director's opinion? How do you get
yourself psyched to go onstage for each performance and how do you keep each
performance fresh?
Thanks in advance.
-- Mark A.
...uw-beaver!ssc-vax!adolph
"We'll cross out that bridge when we come back to it later..."
"Everything that was different was a different thing..."hxe@rayssd.UUCP (12/04/84)
Well, of course there have been several thousand books written on the
subject, but here are my tips on building a character:
1. Know your character's entire life. What did he wear the day
before the play starts? What did his father do for a living?
Did his mother work outside the home? What's his favorite color?
What vegetables does he hate? What movies does he like? What
little mannerisms does he have (playing with his ear, tapping
his foot, etc.)? Why? You get the idea. Anyway, flesh him out
with a past and a non-visible (to the audience) present.
*Always* know what he did or said immediately before/after any
entrances/exits.
2. Say the lines. Play the subtext.
3. For imagery: Build a wall at about the 4th row of the audience and
project your image (what you're describing, what you're seeing in
your mind's eye) onto that screen as an actual projection. If you
don't see it, the audience won't either.
4. As far as creating the character, that should be a mutual process
with the actor and the director. The director is responsible for
the direction the play takes as a whole (thus, his title). You as
the actor are responsible for building a character that is consistent
with the director's intended effect. It's like an orchestra; you
have to know your instrument, but the director conducts the whole
shebang. I usually get an idea of the director's interpretation of
the whole play, then create a character, and count on the director
to tell me if my character is inconsistent with his image.
5. For getting myself "up" before a performance, I usually do slow
breathing to relax, and then something aerobic (but not sweaty!)
*right* before I make my first entrance. This gets my adrenaline
going and gives me the impression that I am bursting onto stage,
even if it's a slow, controlled entrance.
6. For keeping repeat performances fresh: again, say the lines, play
the subtext. As they say, "Don't act. React." No person will
ever give the exact same performance two nights in a row. If you
allow yourself to react to your co-actors' performances, rather
than rigidly reciting lines and making predetermined gestures,
you'll have a much more 'real' performance. This, of course, means
that you must know the play inside and out. No struggling for
lines, no ad-libbing - just subtle reinterpretation of the 'feel'
of the play. No matter what happens, remember that some nights
you're up, some nights you're down. So it goes.
Good luck! Keep us posted!
--
--Heather Emanuel {allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccice5} rayssd!hxe
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I don't think my company *has* an opinion, so the ones in this
article are obviously my own.
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"Such a foolish notion, that war is called devotion,
when the greatest warriors are the ones who stand for peace."