Mark Westbrook

“Acting is living truthfully under (both) the immediate circumstances of the moment and the
imaginary circumstances of the scene”
100 tips on acting
1) BE AUDIBLE If you cannot be heard, you may as well not be there. 
2) LEARN YOUR LINES This is the minimum you can do for your wages.
3) LEARN THE LINES INFLECTED Don’t become a robot.
4) SHOW UP EARLY Courtesy costs nothing. 
5) BE STILL Unintentional movement blurs the stage picture. 
6) THE AUDIENCE DO THE PRETENDING Actors do not pretend. 
7) ACTING IS ACTION OR DOING Not thinking, not pretending to do or be. 
8) TALKING ABOUT REHEARSING IS TO ACTING, AS FISH ARE TO BOXING 
9) GET COMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE Get used to it being uncomfortable.
10) THE AUDIENCE CAN’T SEE WHAT YOU’RE THINKING Get out of your head.
11) ACTING IS MOVING THE AUDIENCE, NOT THE ACTOR 
12) SHOUTING ISN’T ACTING When you shout, you become weaker.
13) LOOK FOR OPPOSITES If the character is brave, show the fear too.
14) WHAT DOES YOUR CHARACTER WANT THE OTHER CHARACTER TO DO? 
15) EXPRESS THE POSITIVE Not what they don’t want, but what they do want.
16) EMOTIONS CANNOT BE FAKED They look fake because they are fake.
17) EMOTION IS A BYPRODUCT OF THE PURSUIT OF ACTION 
18) THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE PREPARATION 
19) DO NOT PUT YOUR HANDS IN YOUR POCKETS If you are thinking about your hands,
you are not trying to get your ‘Essential Action’.
20) STOP SWAYING It’s a habitual mannerism.
21) STOP LEANING/STOOPING FORWARD – STAND UP STRAIGHT It’s a habitual
mannerism.
22) WHAT YOU PRACTICE YOU WILL PERFORM 
23) STOP FLAPPING YOUR ARMS LIKE A PENGUIN It’s a habitual mannerism.
24) LISTEN TO THE DIRECTOR Whether right or wrong, they’re paying your rent.
25) LEARN THE LINES AS THEY ARE WRITTEN 
26) STAY LATE It buys you Brownie points.
27) DON’T ADD YOUR OWN WORDS The playwright is an artist.
28) DON’T TELL OTHER ACTORS WHAT TO DO IN THE SCENE It’s the height of rudeness,
get on with your own job.
29) WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS NOT SAYING TO EACH OTHER? Seek the subtext.
30) LEAVE YOURSELF SOMEWHERE TO GO Don’t start the scene at the end.
31) BREATHE Or you will die and so will your performance.
32) BE SPECIFIC IN YOUR CHOICES AND DECISIONS Generality is the enemy of art.
33) TALENT WON’T HELP YOU WHEN YOU’RE STUCK Get technique.
34) THEY ALWAYS WANT STAFF AT SAINSBURY’S You don’t HAVE to do this.
35) YOU ARE YOUR INSTRUMENT SO IF YOU’RE NOT IN TOP FORM, THERE’S ONLY
ONE PERSON TO BLAME
36) BE IN THE MOMENT 
37) HOLD THE MOMENT Leave a moment or two at the end of the scene.
38) DON’T JUDGE YOUR CHARACTER 
39) TENSION WILL KILL YOUR PERFORMANCE Learn to perform at ease.
40) HOLD SOMETHING BACK Don’t give everything, hold a little in reserve.
41) CHARACTER IS WHAT YOU DO, WHAT ACTIONS YOU TAKE You are what you do.
42) THE BADDIE RARELY CONSIDERS THEMSELVES A BADDIE
43) DO NOTHING UNTIL SOMETHING MAKES YOU DO IT Avoid contrivance.
44) MONOLOGUES ARE THE HARDEST AND MOST DEMANDING PERFORMANCE AND
REQUIRE THE MOST WORK
45) WHEN YOU CHANGE A HABIT OR LEARN SOMETHING NEW – IT ALWAYS FEELS
AWKWARD AND WRONG It’s always that way.
46) DO NOT LISTEN TO THE CRITICS They exist to sell newspapers.
47) BE KIND, BE COURTEOUS, AND BE WILLING TO DO MORE THAN REQUIRED 
48) NOBODY LIKES A SHOW OFF But don’t be afraid to shine.
49) NOBODY LIKES A KISS ASS But do more than you are asked.
50) STOP TRYING SO HARD IN THE SCENE/AUDITION
51) THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH TRAINING 
52) WORK SMARTER AND HARDER What can you do to go the extra mile?
53) MAKE FRIENDS WITH STAGE MANAGEMENT 
54) DON’T GOSSIP ABOUT YOUR FELLOW ACTORS
55) DON’T SLEEP WITH YOUR CO-STAR 
56) TOURS ARE BORING – LEARN A LANGUAGE, READ, WRITE, PRACTICE YOGA 
57) ASK QUESTIONS 
58) BE THE FIRST TO VOLUNTEER FOR EVERYTHING 
59) LEARN TO ACT BEFORE YOU THINK 
60) YOU CANNOT ACT IN SPITE OF THE PLAY, WORK WITH WHAT YOU ARE GIVEN
61) THERE IS NO PERFECT ROLE You make the role perfect by fully living it.
62) EXPECT REJECTION But refuse to accept it.
63) EMBRACE OPPORTUNITY 
64) EVERYONE GETS SCARED 
65) EVERYONE FAILS Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better (S.Beckett)
66) GATHER MORE STRINGS TO YOUR BOW 
67) SELL YOURSELF, BUT DON’T SELL YOURSELF CHEAPLY 
68) THE LITTLE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD IS USUALLY WRONG (Usually)
69) DECIDE WHERE THE LINE IS DRAWN Stick to your principles.
70) SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST LUCKY, OTHERS HAVE TO GRAFT
71) THE PLAY’S THE THING 
72) IF THE ANALYSIS HURTS YOUR HEAD, YOU ARE DOING GOOD WORK 
73) WHO DO YOU KNOW? 
74) THE SHOW IS NOT ABOUT YOU 
75) BE DIFFERENT EVERY NIGHT 
76) ACTING IS NOT GENTEEL CRAFT 
77) DON’T BE AFRAID TO GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY 
78) WHEN THE SHOW IS OVER, SEND THANK YOU CARDS 
79) THE CORRECT RESPONSE TO ANY FORM OF PRAISE IS: THANK YOU 
80) YOU ARE REPLACEABLE 
81) BE SCEPTICAL There’s too much bullshit in this profession.
82) THERE IS NO MAGIC
83) TALENT IS AS CHEAP AS TABLE SALT 
84) IN THE END, IT’S JUST A JOB 
85) IN THE END, IT’S JUST A SHOW 
86) WHAT’S IN YOUR CONTROL? Forget about the things that are not.
87) SOMETIMES YOU’RE THE WINDSHIELD, SOMETIMES YOU’RE THE BUG 
88) THOSE WHO REFUSE TO ACCEPT DEFEAT WILL HAVE A CAREER 
89) PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHO YOU ARE Sometimes when you do a good job.
90) PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE Mainly when you do a bad job.
91) REFUSE TO GIVE UP It’s the only way you’re going to make it.
92) SPEAK UP They want to hear you at the back.
93) REFUSE TO GIVE UP  Giving up is the only way you won’t make it.
94) THERE ARE NO GRADES IN THE REAL WORLD 
95) LISTEN TO ADVICE But you do not have to take it.
96) REFUSE TO GIVE UP  And you will make it.
97) THIS IS A REAL JOB Don’t let anyone tell you any different.
98) DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN (Mama Westbrook)
99) DO NOT BE LATE  It’s discourteous.
100) I’LL TRY IS PREPARING TO FAIL (David Mamet) - Don’t try anything. Trying is
preparing yourself for the option to fail. Do your best.

How to Love Auditioning

by Karen Kohlhaas

Anyone who watches auditions regularly will tell you: 10 percent or less (some even
say 1 percent)”of the actors they see, look like they’re having a good time. Surprised?
They’ll also say that the actors who seem to truly enjoy auditioning are more likely to be
considered and cast. So, let’s recognize what an audition really is: a job interview. If you
were interviewing applicants for a position of great responsibility, would you be inclined to
hire those who looked unhappy? Would you hire the applicants who looked most desperate
to get the job? Or would you be drawn to those who seemed the most happy with
themselves and enthusiastic about possibly being hired? I think actors often look unhappy
(this includes looking serious, somber, grim, and totally miserable) because they’re treating
auditions as ordeals they must endure in the hope of getting hired to do some real creative
work. I believe the only way to change this is to treat the audition process itself as a
creative project, with skills and habits you can learn and get better at.

Define what’s in your control and what isn’t, and forget about what isn’t.

Show business is insane and unfair, always has been, always will be. Here’s an exercise:
make a two-column list, with one side labelled Can Control and one labelled Can’t
Control. Write down everything you can think of that has to do with auditioning on each
column. Then circle everything on the Control side that you regularly do, and circle
everything on the Can’t Control side that you regularly worry about or otherwise lose
energy to. Any surprises? Your goal is to recycle the energy you spend on the Can’t
Control side onto the Control side. Doing this exercise from time to time, and taking
constructive action based on your results, can positively transform your audition
experiences.

Have a solid, measurable craft.

This may seem obvious, but do you have an acting technique that works for you? Do you
have a concrete way to tackle a script? Is your voice in shape? Is your body trained and at
your service? Do you know what roles you want to be going out for? Do you have an idea
of how others, such as casting directors, see you? Do you have an ever-evolving list of your
most favourite plays, films, directors, and companies? Do you practice regularly? Do you
practice auditioning ? The more you work on the various skills of your craft, the more you
will enjoy exercising those skills. You’ll be more likely to see auditions as opportunities to
share your creativity and to perform, and as a result you’ll have a better time in the audition
room.

Be a gracious host at your audition.

It may be their audition room, but it’s your audition. Are you welcoming people to your
performance? Or are you gritting your teeth and bracing yourself? Are you treating casting
directors as valued colleagues, or more like the firing squad? Are you hurling yourself
through the door or are you walking in and pleasantly taking the stage? Are you smiling or
are you grimacing? Are you warmly thanking them or are you running out of the room? I
teach a whole class on this skill, but here’s the bottom line: if you habitually host your
auditions positively and graciously, you are more likely to have a better time yourself.

Never make one audition mean everything.

I once told a friend of mine, who was up for the role of her dreams, that if she didn’t get the
part, then I wanted her to be in a production I was directing. Later. she told me that
knowing that made her relax in the final callback then she did, in fact, get the role of her
dreams. Obviously you can’t guarantee that there’s another role waiting for you whenever
you audition, but you can plan your life so that you are excited about what you have going
on while you’re auditioning. That can mean classes you’re taking, trips or events you’re
planning, or creating your own projects. The most attractive thing in the audition room is an
actor who looks like he or she has somewhere interesting to go next. That kind of actor
gives off an air of you’d better grab me while you can, not please give me this part it’s the
only thing in my life.

De-romanticise show business.

Michael Mastro, currently performing on Broadway in Mamma Mia! , is also a wonderful

audition coach and speaker. When he tells the story of landing his first job in a Broadway
play (as an understudy in Terrence McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion!), he very
eloquently describes how part of him grieved for the loss of the romantic longing he’d had
since childhood to be on Broadway because it was finally happening! And it happened
because he worked his butt off in the audition process to get the job. When he got it, he had
to redefine himself as no longer being the person who romantically longs, but a person who
is a working actor and a businessman. He advises actors that giving up some of the
romance of show business can make you happier when you’re auditioning, because you’ll
be treating auditioning and acting more like real and important things that you are
responsible for, instead of a not-quite-real, random, someday kind of lottery. (P.S. He is,
however, still head over heels in love with acting.)

Learn and enjoy the steps of the dance.

A first audition is like a first coffee date: Hello, how are you? Here’s how this part hits me
a taste of what I could be like in this role. The problem is too many actors show up for this
first date with an engagement ring they put way too much pressure on themselves (and on
their auditors) for the first audition to go perfectly instead of recognizing each step of the
audition dance. Instead of trying to deliver a perfect performance, let your first audition be
a sample of the sensibility you would bring to the role, and possibly the kind of receptivity
you would have to direction and feedback. Then, if they happen, let each subsequent
callback build on your first audition by digging a little deeper into your work, and getting a
bit more detailed. As nerve-wracking as it can be, you will give better auditions and have
more fun if you focus specifically on each stage of the audition process rather than fret over
the whole or the outcome.

Get fascinated with the details.

Are you more focused in the morning? What should you do to be your best at a 3 p.m.
audition? What colours look best on you? Do you have clothes and shoes you look and feel
great in? Do you need to eat protein before an audition? Should you avoid sugar? How can
you be hydrated but not have to run to the bathroom right before you go in the room?
Systematically identifying and practicing details that make you your best is in your control.
It’ll pay off in increased energy, concentration, and enjoyment.

Talk to yourself productively.

You have three possible ways to talk to yourself after an audition: positively, neutrally, or
negatively. I actually recommend talking to yourself neutrally. If you feel terrible after an
audition, it will be harder to force yourself to be positive, but you’ll be more likely to
manage a neutral assessment that can actually give you some valuable information. Write
down what happened as objectively as you can. What worked? What could have worked
better? What do you want to focus on for next time? Take what you learned and move on.
Then you’ll have clear goals to act on for the next time. Once you make this a habit, it will
be much easier to muster a positive attitude both at the audition and afterwards, because
you’ll be working on your own side.

Recognize success.
The wonderful actor Peter Maloney recently spoke to the students at the Atlantic Acting
School . He said, If they don’t cast me, I want it to be their fault, not mine. As a teacher, I
love hearing when former students get jobs, but perhaps the kind of email or call I love
even more is when an actor says: I just had a great audition. I was fully prepared. I took
care of everything. I was at ease coming into the room. I read or did my monologue and had
fun working in the moment. And I made a point of giving them a sincere thank you and
making a confident exit. I had so much fun, and I’m glad I went regardless of whether I am
called back or cast. That is someone I know who has fallen in love with the auditioning
process, and who is enjoying their success right now.

*  *  *  *  *

Top Monologue Mistakes and Solutions

By Karen Kohlhaas
Article from www.monologueaudition.com

This article was revised in August 2006

1. Not having the lines memorized well enough!

Believe it or not, this is the single biggest problem that most actors have in the
audition room. The auditors of a recent EPA (Equity Principal Audition), told me
that they could tell that the majority of actors, even subtly, were still trying to
remember their lines. Therefore they were not fully acting their monologues. I
completely disagree with the theory that not quite having the lines will keep an
actor fresh. Would a serious musician in a competition dream of not quite
knowing the piece? If any of an actor energy is going into remembering the line,
that energy is not at his disposal to truly act the piece. Solution: Be like Anthony
Hopkins, who runs his lines 200 times before shooting a scene. I think most
people agree that his efforts are worth it. Maybe your number isn’t 200 but find
out what your number is and how much rehearsal do you need to have the
monologue memorized so you can bring all of yourself to playing it?

2. Having no staging choices

This is second, if not equal to, not having lines. An auditor of another EPA said
that none of the actors who came in during a whole day of auditions had made
specific physical choices for their monologues. Instead, they just acted the piece
and left the movement up to chance. Would anyone dream of sending a cast on
stage on opening night with no staging, just hoping that the actors’ acting instincts
would take care of everything? An auditioning actor is under just as much
pressure. Solution: Having clear, fun staging will instantly improve your
monologues and make you less nervous. Think carefully about what you want
your monologue to look like from the outside, and give yourself a few concrete
moves to help you tell the story. P.S.: Working in a chair is not a solution to having
no staging! You need to make physical choices in the chair as well, so that your
piece doesn’t have low energy/physical sameness all the way through.

3. Looking at the floor

Many actors look on the floor before, during and/or after their monologues. Unless
it is for a specifically staged moment that actually refers to something on the floor
in the plot, looking at the floor during the piece can look like you lost your line and
it almost always drops the energy of your performance. Looking at the floor after
the piece can look like you are ashamed or unsure. Solution: Look up! I do
suggest dropping your eyes only (not your head) for a brief 3-second countdown
into the piece at the very beginning, but otherwise, let the auditors see your eyes
as much as possible. This will involve them in the piece and keep them with you.

4. Hating the material

You are the producer, director, actor and designer of your monologues, and every
monologue audition gives you an opportunity to run with this incredible artistic
freedom. If you, like many actors, hate your monologues, it’s time to get some
new ones and get excited about how you are going to present them. Auditors can
tell when you are not excited about your pieces, and if you’re not excited, why
should they be? Do you like watching a cast that is not excited about performing
the play? Your monologues have the potential to be expressions of why you want
to act in the first place; celebrations of your favorite writers, and also thrilling
experiments and challenges. Solution: Do whatever you need to do to find
material you love (read more, do some thinking about what writing excites you the
most) and get to work. See Why you should have 20 monologues and other
articles on this website for ideas about finding material.

5. Acting to (looking at) the auditors

When we interviewed 7 industry professionals for The Monologue Audition Video,
all but one said they hate it when actors directly to them, or otherwise use them
during the piece. Most actors seem to know not to do this, but it still happens.
Solution: Find a place to focus that best creates the illusion that you are talking to
someone just behind them. (You can adapt this focus if necessary to create the
illusion that you are speaking to more than one person, a group, yourself, God,
etc.). Practice working off of your own instincts and sense of truth, as you act the
monologue to that focus choice (with someone watching, this is essential).
Practice with a friend until you are sure your focus looks the way you want it to.

6. Acting in a 3/4 view to the auditors

A lot of actors do this, and it makes no sense. They end up acting their piece for
the corner! Solution: Always give those watching you the fullest experience of
your performance (they want to audition you, not your profile). Practice with a
friend watch each other and compare notes until you’re sure of the auditors
view of you.

7. Standing too close to the auditors

Acting too close to the auditors can make them extremely uncomfortable (as you
would be if a stranger got too close to you!) I have recently been hearing of
auditions that actually put markers down on the floor, and ask actors not to cross
them. An actor who gets too close is an actor who is showing that he is unaware
of, or doesn’t care about, the audience’s experience. Each audition room is
different, and each room will require different choices. What is too close in one
room won’t necessarily be too close in a smaller or differently shaped room. You
don’t want to be too far from the auditors either; that can feel like you are lurking
in the background or like there’s no one on stage. Solution: Learning how to find
the best spot for your performance is part of your showmanship. Practice, ideally
with a friend, walking into different rooms and identifying the best acting area. Put
that acting area behind the place that would start to be too close to the auditors,
and practice performing your piece so that you never cross that line. Practice until
you can define the area instantly and habitually as you walk in.

8. Having an unsupported voice and/or mumbling

Both having an unsupported voice and mumbling are marks of an amateur.
Regardless of whether your audition is for theater, TV or film, your commitment to
a supported voice and clear speech demonstrates how committed you are to the
character’s point of view, and your audience’s experience. It is also an indication
of how versatile you could be as an actor. Solution: work on your voice and
speech! For recommendations in New York and Los Angeles, see Great NYC/LA
teachers and classes. My favorite Mamet quote about voice is ‘Voice work is the
easiest, cheapest way to happiness as an actor.’ Look to your favorite actors and
I think you will find them vocally committed and articulate, no matter the role or the
style.

9. Paraphrasing and/or removing the writer’s punctuation

For serious theater auditions it’s absolutely essential that the lines are said as
written, and as punctuated even if you think you have a better idea.
Paraphrasing is often accepted in tv or film work, but I still suggest paying
attention to the way a line was written if you commit to it you may find out
something essential about the character. If you paraphrase in a theater audition
you are showing that you may not honor the writing when you rehearse a play.
Playwriting is next door to poetry: meter, rhythm, and emphasis are all factors,
and how a line sounds is often as important as what it literally means. Writers
cringe when actors don’t pay attention to their carefully worked out lines, rhythm
and punctuation. The playwright Jerome Hairston says, ‘When an actor
paraphrases, that means he doesn’t understand the line. Once he understands
the line, he’ll know that it can’t be said any other way.’ Solution: When preparing
an audition, embrace the way each line was written, and practice until the
language is part of you.

10. Playing the emotion

The great Shakespearean director, scholar and teacher John Barton talks about
how the monologues and soliloquies in Shakespeare are not about displaying
emotion, but about handling the emotion. I think this is true of all monologues.
The character is usually delivering a monologue in an attempt to do something
about what is going on at the present time (even if it’s only to figure it out; even if
it’s to say he has no idea what to do, but he knows he needs to do something!).
That means it is a given that the monologue is already coming from a state of
great emotion, and that the emotion does not need to be emphasized. Just as in
life, you usually want to avoid people who are trying to get something from you
with great hysteria, rage, self-pity, or excessive giddiness, so auditors might react
to actors who are only playing into the emotion of the situation. Yes you do want
to play the importance of finding the solution, but that is very different than having
an emotional fit, which will always take you away from the solution. Solution:
Create order. Play the importance of what the character is trying to do, to
accomplish, to get from the other character(s). Define the objective as specifically
as possible, treat it as something you can actually achieve; put the full force of
your personality behind the objective, and not only will an emotional commitment
naturally be there, but your auditors will see you as the hero ñ acting while under
great stress, rather than as the victim who only complains about it.

11. Fidgeting
We all have fidgets, mannerisms we do unconsciously. Monologue work tends
to put your fidgets under the magnifying glass because you are the only thing
happening in the room. Fidgets can include: shifting weight from side to side;
beating out the rhythm of the lines with arms or head; thrusting the head and also
upper body forward so that alignment is pulled off and the voice suffers; fussy
and/or repetitive hand gestures; blinking. Fidgeting is distracting and instantly
takes the audience out of the piece. Fidgeting can be worked on however, and I
have seen some incredibly fidgety actors transform themselves into focused,
purposeful, riveting performers by working patiently with their fidgeting habits.
Solution: Know that every body movement read is apparent to your
auditors, and that every movement needs to be either a choice or a full
expression of a spontaneous impulse (if it is less than full it becomes a fidget).
Having purposeful, fidget-free staging for a monologue helps immensely. Work
with movement and acting teachers, work with partners, to ground yourself and
practice both stillness AND the full discharge of your movement impulses. For
those who can stand it: have a partner videotape you from a side view while you
act your monologue fully. When you watch it, watch it without the sound, and you
will quickly see your fidgets, and when you are using your body purposefully and
powerfully.

12. Having a neutral (or unpleasant) hello/thank you

Do you have a specific attitude or philosophy that you regularly practice when
representing yourself and your work to people? Most successful business people
do. If you are neutralizing your non-performing interactions in the room, you are
likely to look like you are not happy to be there. If you were hiring someone for a
position of great responsibility, would you hire someone who looked unhappy?
Your interactions in the room are how you show the auditors what you are like
under pressure, and what kind of attitude they can expect of you in a production.
Solution: With enough practice, anyone can become an expert at making a
warm, professional entrance, introduction, thank you, and exit. Think about what
attitude you would most like to show in the audition room, and cultivate this
attitude until it is habitual. It is completely possible to appear grounded, excited
about your work, and happy to meet the people in the room, regardless of the
atmosphere, or your nerves, if you choose your attitude consciously and practice
it enough.

Things I learned from William H Macy

This is just a brief blog to note some of the great things that I’ve learned from listening and
reading W H Macy.

People say he’s the same in every movie, but frankly, that’s bullshit. Yes, he’s been
successful in some similar roles, but he’s starred in a vast amount of movies and television
shows. He’s made more than 115 appearances on the big and small screen in many diverse
roles. If you only know him as Jerry from Fargo, try seeing him in ER or Edmond.

Here are some simple, some inspiring, some thought provoking quotes from Macy:

“As frightening as it was, I found that when I was on stage, I was less self-conscious, then I
was the rest of the time”

“I think it’s really dangerous to characterise the character you’re playing, to put a label
on him.”

“Quite often, people who are going through great tragedy are quite placid on the outside. I
find that so much more moving”

“In times of havoc, you will do what you habitually do”

William H Macy at the Actors Studio

Hey guys, I’m always looking out for interesting and inspirational things to post here for
you. Most recently, I watched a tremendous episode of Inside the Actors Studio, which
featured Macy. I enjoyed it all, but at the end, he said things that so categorically aligned
with my view of acting, I wanted to share it with you. It’s quite long, but check it out
nonetheless, and maybe it will speak to you as it spoke to me:

Bill Macy:

“The whole thing about your emotions is, Grotowski found this out, if you perform an
action, it will have an emotional reaction, you couldn’t stop it if you tried. Your emotions
will come out. You cannot bring them forth and you cannot hide them, they will come out.
And there’s never been a scene that is about being sad. There are scenes about making a
bond, that’s something you can do, but being sad, you’re gonna fake it, you’re just gonna
be pretending. What the audience needs to know is that you’re making a bond or you’re
getting a promise, or that you’re laying down the law. These are things that are within your
will, that’s what counts. And I’ll go further. Actors are emotional people, the question
always, should actors be emotional people? You are emotional people, And here’s the
thing, you are sufficient.  You don’t have to improve yourself. First of all, you’re not
gonna. In your study of acting, you’re not gonna become better people. You are sufficient,
you’re enough, you’ve got the goods, you’re completely emotional enough. What we need
from you is your bravery, your will. If you do it right, the journey of the character is
strangely similar to the journey of the actor. In other words, the fear that the character
feels is so similar to the fear that you feel. At some point, you have to stop saying, I’m
wrong to feel this way, I should be feeling something different. The character should be
feeling a certain thing. Nah, if you’re feeling it, it’s real.

The purpose of the technique, always – always is to free your subconscious, because that’s
where the truth lies. That’s why you have a technique, so that you can let the inner stuff
out, you wanna get out of your head and become impulsive. That’s where you’ll find the
truth. And you’ve got the goods folks, you are sufficient.”

Top Ten Tips for Cold Reading: (Auditions

– Not Psychics)
Thanks Ethan for your request of some tips on cold reading. I hope this helps you and
everybody else!

ONE: TRAIN FOR IT 

More and more auditions involve cold readings of monologues or dialogues.
It’s something you’re going to spend a lot of time doing. For that reason, you need to
prepare for it. But what preparation can you do? You can cold read a ton of things at home,
pick up anything and practice cold reading it: the tv guide, a novel, a play, the bible, it
doesn’t matter, just practice picking up things and reading them out loud.

TWO: SLOW DOWN

People tend to garble when they’re nervous. They speak really really fast and it damages
their audition because no one can understand them. Whilst the panel will expect you to be
nervous, speaking too quickly will kill your articulation.

THREE: RAPID ANALYSIS

Make an analysis of the scene as quickly as you can. What does the character want the
other character to do as a result of hearing your words? If you can answer even this
question, you will give yourself a tone for the scene based on context. If you have time to
work out an Essential Action for your character in the scene, such as ‘To bring someone
down a peg or two’ or ‘To get someone to crown me Queen’, or ‘To get what I deserve’ –
you’ll have something strong to act in your scene, not just the words.

FOUR: WARM UP
If you can, do a quick warm up before you start (obviously not in view of the panel). So
before they bring you in, have a good stretch, do some spinal rolls, have a few good deep
breaths through your mouth to slow down your heart beat and make yourself more
comfortable. Warm your mouth up with a couple of tongue twisters to prevent yourself
from getting tongue-tied in the audition.

FIVE: LEARN TO READ SENTENCES NOT WORDS

One of the keys to cold reading is the ability to take in a sentence at a glance, and then
whilst acting that line to scan ahead to see the next line. This is not easy, so practice it as
part of your regular cold reading practice. Speak one line, scan ahead to the next.

SIX: LINE LEARNING?

I’ve heard some people advise cold readers to try to learn the script quickly. NONSENSE.
You’re going to end up confused, stuck half in memory, half trying to act in the moment.
Don’t even think about it – unless they give you a couple of hours!

SEVEN: READ
Spend the time that you have with the script reading it over and over, don’t work out how
you’re going to say the lines, just read it over and over until you’re comfortable with it.
Until you just have a feel for it and the words are easy with you. This will help you live in
the moment when the audition comes.

EIGHT: RESEARCH
If you know what show they are doing, read the play in advance. Most scripts are available
through Amazon, Alibris or the Drama Bookshop in New York. While they might not have
you read from the script, you will be prepared if they do!

NINE: PLEASANT IN AND OUT

Walk in with a big natural smile, and say hello if they are looking at you. Again, when
they’re done with you, regardless of how you felt you’ve done, just give a big lovely smile
and say ‘thanks’ or ‘thank you very much’. Being lovely is something to cultivate – there
are too many prima donnas still.

TEN: LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY

You’re going to be nervous and cold reading auditions are fairly fraught experiences. So
remember to listen carefully to any instructions that you get before or during the audition.
Listen to the director carefully and speak clearly yourself.

We are what we repeatedly do. 

Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

- Aristotle

Acting through Song: Help for Acting

Singers or Singing Actors
The singing actor has one great advantage over the stage actor – they have music. Music
has a physical effect upon the central nervous system of both performer and audience, and
the actor’s singing voice has the same effect on the audience. This means that the singing
actor can move an audience in a way that no straight play can ever do.

The voice of the performer, coupled with the music and the words, creates an effect in the
audience that cannot be topped. The singing actor has something special, the ability to
move without a call to the intellect of the audience. Their audience responds unconsciously,
truthfully and with full emotion. The filtering, editing effect of the brain does not have a
chance to destroy the moment.

Acting the song requires two things:

- A good strong, supple singing voice with an adequate vocal range

- A technique or ability to connect you to the song

We approach the playing of a song like we approach the playing of a monologue, but we
are restricted by the musical rhythm (like in Shakespeare, we must stick to the metre). This
indicates to us a certain flow of the song, but still allows us our own way of approaching
the song, and how we play it.

Perform a simple analysis on the song, by asking the questions:

- What is my character literally doing?

- What does my character want the other character to do as a result of this song?
- What is(are) the obstacle(s) between my character and their desire?
- What is the essential action?
- What’s it like to me?
- What analogous circumstances exist in my world that help me connect to that essential
action?
- What tactics would you employ? A tactic is best summed up as a verb that can be done to
someone else such as mock, berate, stroke, challenge, implore etc.

The main tool here, once the direction of the piece is ascertained, is finding the analogous
circumstances by using an ‘As-If’. This will give your body a great sense of what it means
to play that Essential Action and all the ways that you might try to get your action
accomplished. Working to improvise or play with the analogous circumstances will provide
you with a truthful bed rock for the song.
The ability to distill your character’s task down to the lowest common denominator (the
simplest form) is the real test. After that, live truthfully and the song will fly.

Practical Aesthetics Guide

Practical Aesthetics Acting Classes

Back in the eighties, award winning director and playwright David Mamet teamed up with
his old friend, the now famous actor William H Macy, and did something a little bit
different.

Mamet and Macy got together with a group of drama students from New York University
and held what they described as a “Practical Aesthetics” workshop. So exciting was what
they explored, that a book was subsequently published; “A Practical Handbook for The
Actor”, and the Atlantic Theatre Company was formed with Practical Aesthetics at its
foundation. Atlantic has since become one of the most successful and critically acclaimed
theatre companies in New York.

So what’s Practical Aesthetics all about then?

Well, the most important thing to say about it is that it’s a modern and pragmatic approach
to actor training. It doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater though, since it is
founded on the work of key theatre practitioners (such as Stanislavski and Meisner), yet
moves dynamically forward.

Let’s turn our attention to the key elements of a Practical Aesthetics Acting Class:

The Practical Approach

A Practical Aesthetics Acting Class focuses (in contrast to the ethereal and internal
“Method” approach) on what the Actor is actually doing or trying to do within the scene,
and in the moment.

Acting is about action then, and as such it’s the actor’s actions that construct the dynamics
of the “character” as perceived by the audience. A Practical Aesthetics Acting Class helps
the actor find key goals to pursue within each and every scene, with the complete freedom
to be natural and truthful every time.

Voice & Body – The Foundation

Since the voice and body are the actor’s instruments, a Practical Aesthetics student will
learn simple and effective techniques to optimise these instruments. To encourage a state of
readiness and flexibility.
The body and its muscles, including those affecting breathing and clarity of speech will be
lightly stretched and relaxed – tension in mind and body can be the enemy of even the best
actors.

Likewise, expect a Practical Aesthetics Class to give you some fundamental exercises to
warm the larynx, and some verbal gymnastics to loosen the jaw, tongue and lips.

Since it’s said that only seven percent of our communication comes solely from the words
we choose, the remaining ninety three percent is greatly influenced by vocal nuances of
tone, pitch and rhythm as well as body language.

Repetition Technique/Exercise

Warming up of voice and body is fundamental across all types of actor training. However,
it’s in the next phase of learning known as the Repetition Technique or Repetition Exercise,
where the Practical Aesthetics acting student begins to specialise.

There is little benefit in explaining the mechanics of this exercise in detail – like a good
script it’s designed to be acted upon, not talked about. However, the Repetition Exercise
has at its core one of the most valuable tools of any great actor’s craft – the development of
observation skills.

Great observation skills are truly invaluable to an actor for they encourage: an alert
attentiveness, an ability to absorb minute details of communication (particularly in its non
verbal form) and crucially, to react truthfully to what they have in front of them.

It also has a style of approach which encourages two actors to engage with each other in a
specific form of dialogue which prepares them for the later activity of setting out to achieve
a goal or ‘Essential Action’.

The Repetition Exercise can be fun, demanding and occasionally gently competitive. The
student learns to use the other person to influence how they behave – something that runs
throughout the different stages of a Practical Aesthetics Acting Class.

When the most wonderfully electric scenes are carried out by fine actors on the stage and
screen, they are fresh, alive and full of energy. That’s usually because the actor’s are
reacting off of each other. This avoids the notion of “deadly theatre” where a play is
exhaustingly rehearsed in the same manner and tone, and the actors become automatons
and leave the audience bored and unengaged.

Acting is re-acting, and the Repetition Exercise is an invaluable process to practice that
skill.

Script Analysis
A vast amount of blood, sweat and tears is produced when a writer creates a good script.
Every word on the page or even lack of them, are there for a reason. It’s the actor’s job to
read, absorb and analyse the scenes written. Then to formulate ideas, observations and
decisions on how to act upon that information.

In Practical Aesthetics, scene analysis follows simple, flexible and effective steps. You are
encouraged to define:

What the character is literally doing

This is as simple as it sounds – identify what the character is actually doing in the scene,
without judgement or metaphor. This might be as plain as having a job interview with a
prospective employer, buying some flowers from a shopkeeper or a couple talking about
troubles in their relationship. Knowing this gives you the anchor for the scene, and requires
no clever interpretation – it’s the base level of what the audience sees.

The Wants
Having established what the character is literally doing, you then move on to defining what
they actually want over the period of the scene. However, it’s important for “the want” to
be based on the other person in the scene. And so, it becomes about wanting something
from the other. Using the last of the above literal situations, an example might be the
girlfriend wants the boyfriend to swallow his pride.

The Essential Action

From there, the actor takes that information and formulates it into what Practical Aesthetics
describes as an “essential action”. Again, as was mentioned earlier, the actor is focusing on
what they do to the other person. Therefore, encapsulating the entirety of the scene, the
essential action should be expressed in the form of “getting something from someone”. If
we use the couple again, her essential action might be to “get a loved one to take a chance”.

The choice of essential actions can be vast, but the Practical Aesthetics approach dictates
that an essential action is only valid when it meets all of nine criteria set out below:

1) It must be in line with the playwright’s intentions

2) It must not be an errand
3) It must have a cap
4) It mustn’t be emotionally or physically manipulative
5) It mustn’t predetermine an emotional state
6) It must have its test in the other person
7) It must be specific
8) It must be physically capable of being done
9) It must be fun

It’s not important to explain these here, but it is important to know that this checklist forces
the actors to get to the crux of what they want to achieve, and gives them focus and a sense
of purpose in the scene.
The beauty of Practical Aesthetics is that none of these guidelines prescribe a method of
achieving your essential action. Yet it does help you formulate a huge array of potential
tactics you might use to get there. This brings up the following questions:

Q. Which tactics do you use in the scene?

A. Whichever one seems to work.

Q. How do you know if your tactics work?

A. Look for the evidence in the other actor!

Q. What if the other person in the scene is creating obstacles and refusing to bend?
A. Use a different one and try again – make it impossible for them not to be affected.

Remember, your scene partner has identified their wants and essential actions and potential
tactics to affect you too. Thus, the game is on; let the playing begin.

The “As-If”
In rehearsal, the Practical Aesthetics Actor will take the essential action and personalise it
to mean something to them. So if the essential action is to “get a loved one to take a
chance”, they might say it’s “as if I was convincing my brother to get over his ex, and ask
out the girl next door”. The key is, it must mean something important to you, and it must be
plausible enough for you to invest your energy in it.

This gives the actor the basis for trying out different tactics with a scene partner using
improvisation, without initially concerning themselves with the actual text of the play.

The object of this exercise is for the different tactics to become habitual, and the actual text
of the scene can be introduced later, now those tactical muscles have been flexed.

A good actor is an intrepid explorer of scenes, and a Practical Aesthetics Acting Class gives
you the map and the compass. The beauty of it is how you interpret them, and how you
choose to get to your treasure, is up to you and there’s never only one journey.

With all the above preparation, analysis and practice put in, the Practical Aesthetics actor
can embark on any given performance with the confidence of knowing what they are
setting out to achieve, and the freedom and flexibility to act, and react to, what is actually
happening in that specific and unique moment in time, with whoever is on stage with them.

Practical Aesthetics avoids the trap of the Method Actor: self absorption and self analysis.
By taking the attention away from you and onto the other, you truly become liberated to act
and live in the moment. You’re no longer trapped inside your head, no two performances
will ever be identical, and the magic of storytelling casts its spell on the audience.

That’s what makes Practical Aesthetics so wonderful an approach. Like an athlete you have
done everything you need to prepare for the race, and are skilled enough to let your
instincts take over once the starting gun has fired.
Like an athlete though, the Practical Aesthetics actor has to work and train hard. The
approach is not complex, it’s not mystical, and it doesn’t require psychological
introspection. Its capacity to help you grow as an actor is limited only by your courage of
determination, commitment and application.

As any good Practical Aesthetics teacher will tell you, great acting skills are about hard
work and application – it’s not a question of simply “talent” or being “gifted”. A Practical
Aesthetics Acting Class will give the student the tools and techniques required to gather
information from the script, apply some key criteria that means something to them, and
carry out specific actions in a scene with a free-flowing, unrehearsed manner.

In summary, Practical Aesthetics Acting Classes equip the actor with practicable tools

designed to give the actor freedom of choice over what “to do” rather than worrying about
how “to be”.

The Essential Action

The Essential Action is a vital part of the scene analysis tools for Practical Aesthetics.
When you understand how to build a good essential action for yourself and you can glean
them from the script, you will be one step closer to making acting simpler and more fun.

So what is an Essential Action? Something like Stanislavski’s ‘task’ - it has the quality of
something that needs to be achieved. It is like boiling down the essence of what the
character is trying to achieve from the other character in the scene. It is an active task, with
a quality of a goal or objective about it, and according to the original PAW members and
the current Atlantic Acting School teachers, it has 9 criteria:

1) It must be Physically Capable of Being Done (the character’s aim is tangible, so must

yours be)

2) It must be specific (Stanislavski used to say that generality is the enemy of all art, so get
specific)

3) It must have its test in the other person (takes the focus off you and makes you much
more interesting)

4) It must have a physical cap (a sign that you have achieved the essential action
transformed into a physical essence)

5) It must not be manipulative  (don’t try to control the other actor. Influence yes, but not
control)

6) It must not presume a physical or emotional state in self or other  (getting someone to
stop crying… presumes…)
7) It must not be an errand (Send a message – that’s an errand. To get someone to do my
bidding, now that’s an Essential Action)

8) It must be in line with the playwright’s intentions (as close as possible – you never know
their internal intentions, but those of the play)

9) It should be fun (this is important, but not ha ha fun, something that engages your sense
of play)

They usually start with the words ‘to get someone to….’ Some practitioners exchange the
‘someone’ for a more relationship specific word, and some remove it all together, so ‘to get
someone to share their terrible secret’ can become ‘to get a loved one to share their terrible
secret’ or simply ‘share your terrible secret’. I like the relationship context, it helps you to
find an analogous connection to it through an As If.

The Essential Action offers the actor a way of taking the essence of what the character is
doing and turning it into something that he or she can do too.

So you read the scene and you reckon the character’s essential action is ‘ to bring someone
down a peg or two’. It’s a lovely fun thing to do in a scene and it fully engages the actor in
the psychophysical task of trying to get their scene partner to ‘down a peg or two’.  By
offering the actor a way of coming into line with the character, we create the illusion of
character. The actor always has something to do on stage, the essential action gives them
that something to do, they move beyond the words, they move beyond the printed scene
into a relationship that triangulates the playwright’s words, the actions of themselves and
their scene partner and the imagination of the audience. When all these work together,
when you begin working off the other actor, using your essential action and the words of
the playwright, you enter flow and so do the audience.

They Call it Text Analysis

They call it Text Analysis, but I always think that sounds rather academic. In Practical
Aesthetics, we have some clear concise questions that we ask to help us understand the
scene of a play or film. The question that really helps the actor to begin unlocking the scene
is:

What does your character want the other character to do as a RESULT of their actions?

We call this THE WANT. (and you won’t find it in the Practical Handbook for the
Actor because it was added after that book was published)

Sometimes it’s known as an:

  Objective
 Desire
 Need
 Goal
 Target

Characters want things for themselves, but they usually want them from other
people. David Mamet says “The character’s got to want something specific”. No matter
what they say, they’re after something, they’re seeking a goal, they’ve got an objective.
As Mamet says:
“People may or may not say what they mean, but they always say something designed to
get what they want.”

The essential part of the WANT question is what does the character WANT the other
character to “DO”.Your character wants the other character to do something. Your actions
on stage must aim to glean a response from the other actor to parallel the drive the character
feels to achieve something from one of the other characters, occasionally themselves. This
can range from my character wants the other character “pay them attention”, to “lend them
money”, to “do their dirty work”. It’s important to keep it very simple and write (in order
to identify it, to articulate it) it in physically achievable terms. See how I was able to write
the WANT in THREE words each time. Try to keep it minimal. I sometimes change the
tense to first person so ‘pay me attention’, ‘lend me money’ or ‘do my dirty work’ –
thinking from the perspective of the character, but as a recent anonymous commenter
pointed out it’s probably better to have the WANT in the 3rd Person.

The WANT compels the character to action. Having a strong WANT will give you a very

big clue as to how to construct an effective ESSENTIAL ACTION. Using a strong want to
create a strong ESSENTIAL ACTION will compel YOU to action.

By answering this question with the “DO”, it makes the WANT something tangible.
However, remember that the WANT is something that the fictional character desires,
something that drives them, their motivating force.

The reason that other actors look silly asking “What’s my motivation for this scene” is that
the motivation is provided by the playwright for the character alone. You will never have
the same desire as the character in the play. The WANT is not yours, it is a target for the
character and although the audience may be aware of it through the writing of the script,
your job is to find a strong and fun ESSENTIAL ACTION that aims to capture it. In the
pursuit of that action, you will create become compelling and come to life, you will begin
to live truthfully.

Your character’s desire is the reason that they are in the scene in the first place. All
character’s have a WANT. Your job is to discover the most practical WANT for the scene
and find the strongest universal ESSENTIAL ACTION for the scene.
WANT offers a way to help you to bring the character to life by bringing yourself to life
with something concrete to do, but it is not your want and so the essential action is what
converts it into something simple and truthful for you to do. Others can’t understand how
simply this works. Life is goal and action, so it is in the scene, without goal and action there
is pretense and entropy.

Sloppy Repetition
Meisner believed actors do not listen. They are so focused on what they have to do that they
rarely listen and connect with their partners truely. I would go one further and suggest this
is not a problem for actors, this is a problem for the human race. Yesterday I had an
experience on the telephone and it made me think about how we do not listen. We gloss
over, we fill in the blanks, we presume, but we don’t listen…

CALLER:  Hello, Mr Jones?

ME:           No.

CALLER: Hello there Mr Jones, I’m calling from SOME COMPANY TRYING TO SELL
YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU DON’T WANT.

Now how was this boy going to sell me something if he hadn’t listened to see if I was Mr
Jones or not? He wasn’t listening, he was too focused on his task to actually care about the
one person that could help him do his job better. It is the same for the actor.

Until now, I’ve resisted writing about the repetition exercise or game. Personally, I think
talking about it dilutes it somewhat. Yet, there’s no better exercise for the actor that teaches
them to listen, pay attention to their partner, see what changes in their partner and educates
them in how to connect with their partner, whether their partner is connected to them or not.

To me, one of the big problems with students as they get better at the exercise is that they
no longer focus on being precise about the repetition. In other words, they sort of gloss over
the cracks, presuming, reading, fortune telling the response, and not allowing the moment
to be true.

REPEAT WHAT YOU HEAR is one of the basic tenets of the exercise, yet people want to
lead, they want to abuse, control, bully, compete with the other person. Just repeat what you
hear with your own perspective.

Repetition becomes fake when you begin to try to take control. Do you see? It’s not
ABOUT YOU. It’s about the OTHER person.
When you take control of the repetition, you are getting sloppy, you are no longer truly
PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR PARTNER. You make assumption and presumptions.
You can afford to neither.

How many times do we hear the same old predictable calls made when someone does
something that you recognise. You say ‘ah yes, that’s this’, before you even look to see
what it truly is. You must be on the ball, that’s what being in the moment is about, but you
must also be exact, you must be precise, you must learn to see the difference between
disagreement and surprise (for instance).

Challenge yourself to take your time next time you are up doing repetition. Challenge
yourself to say what it is, not what you have gotten used to saying.  When I was training, I
remember that one of my classmates would also use ‘you’re stuck in your head’ or ‘you’re
in your head’ whenever she couldn’t think of anything else to say. She was learning to lie
and this exercise is about revealing the truth.

Repetition is about learning to see what behaviour your scene partner is exhibiting so that
you can learn to address that behaviour with your actions.

Sloppy repetition improves no one. It simply allows you to lie to yourself, and to your
scene partner.

Repetition for Beginners

I hate WordPress: this is my third attempt at writing this for you, fingers crossed this
time. :o)

Repetition or the Repetition Exercise or Game was developed by Sandy Meisner in the
USA to train actors to actively listen to each other and pay attention to their stage partners.
Repetition is a foundation exercise in Practical Aesthetics, the approach to acting developed
by David Mamet & WH Macy.

Traditionally actors do not need to listen to each other. They’ve rehearsed the scene in the
same way throughout the entire rehearsal process, so they know what’s coming next. This
means that their skill must be in pretending to respond truthfully to something they’ve
heard hundreds of times. However, sooner or later, your performance will degrade over
time. This might be fine on film but on the stage, where you need to remain spontaneous
night after night, it becomes problematic.

In Meisner’s view and that of practitioners of Practical Aesthetics, actors should listen and
should not set their performances in stone. In the words of Mike Alfreds, they should be
‘different every night.’
If your performance is to be truly spontaneous and immediate (meaning based on what’s
happening here and now rather than copying what happened in rehearsal ad naseum), then
you must learn to work off what the other actor is doing in this moment.

Repetition helps you to build the skills to deal with this new spontaneous and immediate
style of performance.

Repetition is simple. Say something truthful about the other person and then that person
repeats from their perspective and continue to repeat what you hear until something
happens that makes you change. For example:

You’re unsure
I’m unsure
You’re unsure
I’m unsure
You’re unsure
I’m unsure
You’re unsure
I’m unsure
You’re unsure
I’m unsure
You’re unsure
I’m unsure
Etc etc…

There’s no need to do anything, there’s no need to change what you say or how you say it
unless you see something new occurring.

Simply put: if you see the person fidgeting and biting their lip, you may believe they are
nervous, then say it and continue to repeat (until one of you sees some new change
occuring).

You’re unsure
I’m unsure
You’re unsure
I’m unsure (you see them bite their lip)
You’re nervous
I’m nervous
You’re nervous
I’m nervous
You’re nerbus (you hear them err)
You made a mistake
I made a mistake (they go red)
You’re embarrassed
I’m embarrassed
You’re embarrassed
I’m embarrassed
You’re embarrassed
I’m embarrassed

As David Mamet says ‘Invent Nothing, Deny Nothing’. This means that you do NOT need
to change anything on purpose but if you see a change in your repetition partner, then say
it, don’t deny it. Remember it’s Invent Nothing, Deny Nothing.

There are three rules for repetition:

1) Tell the Truth

2) If in doubt Repeat
3) Dont stop playing the game: keep playing if you get it right, get it wrong, completely
fuck it up or a herd of gazelles tramples your classmates. Place your focus on your partner
and play the game until you’re told to stop.

You must allow yourself to be influenced by the other actor and to inadvertently (at this
stage) influence their behaviour (without attempting to do so).

This game has no winner, it’s not a competition. When you make a mistake or get stuck for
words just attempt to keep going, your worst mistakes are gifts to your fellow repetition
practitioner that will keep the game going.

Simply say what you see regardless of social politeness. Meisner used to say ‘Fuck Polite’.
He doesn’t mean be rude, he simply means that if you are an actor, you must be open to
live truthfully under a wide range of imaginary circumstances and scenarios. For this
reason, the actor must be unrestricted by social niceties in order to prepare to do this. It’s
not about being mean to each other, it’s about being open enough to say what you see and
respond to it.

Over time your repetition skills are integrated into your scene work. From herein it’s just
practise. So what are you waiting for? Get practising!

See you in class!

∞ Introducing the Simplest Acting

Technique in the World ∞
Sometimes the best way to improve on something is to discard everything that came before
and start from scratch. A few years ago, I created and trademarked a technique called Task
Jamming®. To my mind, it is one of the simplest and most effective acting techniques
available, but it really requires that the actor let go of a lot of beliefs about what acting is, in
order to improve their performances and meet their real potential.
That’s harder than it seem. Our beliefs become hardwired into us, literally part of who we
are.

Task Jamming requires a good understanding of the psychological drive of the character.
So let’s say it’s ‘to get someone to swallow a bitter pill’ like delivering some bad news to
someone that they won’t want to hear. (This requires some knowledge of script and scene
analysis)

All your behaviour, your tactics, the things you do to the other actor have to derive from
this mindset. These are primarily psychological, and come in the form of transitive verbs.
(Ones that fit between and I you)

And this is the simple part. Say aloud what the other actor is doing psychologically. (This
requires some knowledge of the repetition exercise)

“You’re distracted.” 

Say it aloud again, but this time, like you want to discourage them from being unsettled
(they can’t swallow the bitter pill unless they are calm again)

Choose a tactic that you would instinctively do to someone you wanted to be settled, so that
you could achieve your goal of delivering this bad news.

So you might do this:

CALM: “You’re distracted.”

You’ve acknowledged what they are really doing right now. Not what they are saying, but
what they are doing, not what they are pretending to do, but what they are actually doing.

Now we force that decision through both your response to what they are doing, and your
next line.

CALM: “You’re distracted.”  CALM “Call him up, ask him”

Then the other actor sees the HUGGING from their perspective, perhaps they find it
patronising and deflect it.

DEFLECT “You’re patronising” DEFLECT “Maybe later”

Then you see the deflection, and perhaps you quickly focus them.

FOCUS “Call About Their Behaviour”  FOCUS “Line from the Script”.
This goes back and forth from the beginning of the scene until the end. A continued cycle
of acknowledging with a response and letting that response affect the lines, and then your
scene partner does the same thing. Like the infinity symbol ∞

I’ll be honest, it doesn’t even feel like acting. It is acknowledging what’s happening in the
present moment. It’s having an opinion on that – which comes from your Task/Mindset and
making sure that your opinion/response/tactic is pushed through into the lines.

Once you’ve mastered this level of the technique, you simply do the call part in your head –
which is great, because the audience see a physiological response in you before the line
comes out – something that is always incredibly difficult to achieve through purely ‘acting’.

No character, no transformation, no magical acting talent, just a simple infinity loop being
used over and over again.

Acting with Adverbs

Today in my regular Monday night Monologue class, we were discussing the notion of
quality of tactic.  Sometimes when your monologue seems to be flat or all in one colour,
changing the quality will make a big difference. When I’m directing, I like to work with
qualities (that is if I need lines) or part of a chunk of a scene (you can call it a unit if you
like, I prefer chunk) delivered in a different way. I offer the actor some adverbs, some
descriptive qualities to try their choice of tactic.

Thanks to Ian Watt for pointing out the hard/soft or light/dark qualities that some actors
need to get out of a rut. Rather than thinking in intangible forms like soft and hard, or light
and dark, I offer these very tangible adverb qualities to use instead:

Acting with Adverbs/Qualities:

Suggestively 

Gently

Boldly 

Mischievously

Hesitantly 

Sincerely 

Confidently
Eagerly 

Scornfully 

Disgustedly 

Carefully

Shamefully 

Casually 

There are many more, please choose carefully as some move you too powerfully towards
playing a state.

What do you teach people?

It’s a good question and one that I teach people – pragmatism. I’ve been in acting classes.
I’ve read many acting books. I’ve trained as an actor, before becoming a director and an
acting coach. The trouble I found was a lack of pragmatism. Advice to actors was always
given in such airy-fairy ways that I couldn’t make head nor tail of it. And of course, I felt
like the idiot, like the bad person, like the moron for not understanding. But how could I
understand? They were teaching me stuff that didn’t connect ‘training’ to ‘practice’.

So when people ask what I teach, I say I teach pragmatism. I want the actor to know HOW
to get better, without getting lost in the ether of creativity, feeling, emotion, and etc etc blah
blah blah. This pragmatism comes from Practical Aesthetics, which as my new friend Mark
Coleman says is “repackaged Meisner or repackaged Stanislavski”. Well  I partly agree –
it’s a lot of things brought together into something unique that works, and something that
works ALL the time, rather than just when the muse strikes or the crow flies.

What I teach are very simply techniques, they work pretty much straight the way.
Depending upon the student, they may take some time, or one student may take longer to
understand something than another, or a younger student may be less inhibited, or an older
student may have a sharper mind for scene analysis. I don’t teach a system. I teach an
approach: a way of thinking about acting, a philosophy of acting which believes that it
should be simple and fun.

I’m teaching common sense. I’m teaching tools that can be picked up and used
immediately. It’s true that you will need to use the tools for many years before you gain
complete mastery, but you will gain mastery. You will have control and you will know how
to use them to get the results that you want.

I teach Common Sense. I can’t explain it any different.

Tips on Script Reading
Some thoughts on Script Reading:

It is not necessary for the actor to have an academic or literary interest or analysis of the
script. Scripts are not to be examined by scientists or philosophers: they are to be acted by
actors. That’s their only real point and purpose. Academia and schooling have often killed a
person’s natural interest in reading plays. The questions that one should ask when reading a
play (known as Script Analysis) can be found after this section, but they are not academic.
They are vital in providing the actor with an understanding of what is happening
dramatically through the action of the play. Reading a script for the first time is an
important time as you will never have that experience again. You should set time aside to
read it when you will not be disturbed. You cannot undervalue or disrespect a play more
than failing to give it the due attention on its first reading. Stanislavski in his third book on
acting “Creating a Role” gives us a note on this important first reading:

“How many of us make serious preparation for the first reading of a play? We read it
hurriedly, wherever we may be, in a railroad train, a cab, during intermissions, and we do
it not so much because we want to come to know the play but because we want to imagine
ourselves in some fat part. Under such circumstances we lose an important creative
occasion- an irreparable loss, because later readings are deprived of the element of
surprise”
How many times should you read the script? Countless times is the best answer, most
actors won’t, even if they should and this is significantly flaws their own character and later
their acting. If you are rushed or stretched for time before rehearsals commence, it’s best to
read it as follows:

The First Read Through – Undisturbed, reading it all the way through in a quiet
environment. Not so cosy that the senses are dulled. It needs to be read with the acting
brain switched firmly on.
Technical Read Through - This time, as you read it through, make little notes in the script
indicating words phrases, references etc. that you do not understand. Don’t be vain and
foolish and ignore them. They will come back to haunt and embarrass you if you don’t
comprehend their meaning fully.

Learning Read Through -This time you should read the play through with a dictionary and
the Internet to hand. As you reach each of the words, phrases look them up to ensure you
understand their meaning.

My Part Read Through – Only read your parts of the play through. Use this to grasp the
part your character plays in the story of the script.

Other POV Read Through – Read through noting all the things that are said by other
characters, your own character or the playwright about the role you are playing.
Circumstantial Read Through - The final stage, used for gleaning the External Imaginary
Circumstances and listing them for helpful use during rehearsals. The actor that does their
preparation in advance of rehearsals has a head start.

Inspiring Quotes on Acting

I thought today I’d find out some great advice from some different sources; look at some
sterling quotes and advice from some top actors and then reproduce it here for you. As it
happened, only one turned to be from an actor as such, but much of this has inspired me for
years. Many of my students will recognise some of these. Some of them were on the walls
of my acting studio at GAMTA whilst I taught there. Of course, they took them down
afterwards, cos Practical Aesthetics was really messing with their pretending mojo.

One of my favourites is from Denzel Washington, this is what the man has to say: “Do
theatre,” he said. “Theatre, theatre, theatre. Especially for the actors. And for the
directors, take acting classes. It’ll help you understand what the actors are trying to
achieve.”

“The lessons of the stage: are often devastating and almost beyond bearing” David Mamet

“Where you stumble, there you shall find your treasure.”  Joseph Campbell

(This one is for Carly Jane McGrath) – “Fail. Fail again. Fail Better.” Samuel Beckett

“People may or may not say what they mean… but they always say something designed to
get what they want.” David Mamet

“Silence is an absence of words, not an absence of meaning” Sanford Meisner

“Acting is living truthfully, under the imaginary circumstances of the play” - Sanford

Meisner 

“Your talent is in your choice” – Stella Adler

“At the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre, Sanford Meisner said, ‘When you go
into the professional world, at a stock theatre somewhere, backstage, you will meet an
older actor, someone who has been around awhile. He will tell you tales and anecdotes,
about life in the theatre. He will speak to you about your performance and the
performances of others, and he will generalise to you, based on his experience and his
intuitions, about the laws of the stage. Ignore this man!’” David Mamet
“Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to
be famous or for the money. Do plays. It’s not worth it if you are just in it for the money.
You have to love it.” Philip Seymour Hoffman

“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. You become just
by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by
performing brave actions.” Aristotle

FOR MY STUDENTS: “It’s not enough to have talent. You have to have a talent for your
talent.” Stella Adler

FOR MARK COLEMAN: “I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of tightrope
dancer, so that no incompetent would dare step onto it.” – Goethe

Quotes aren’t just cool things to say to people, they’re great for reminding you of important
truisms about acting and the stage. I love having them around, they act as reminders to me.
Hope you enjoyed.

“Never forget acting is a big fat trick we play on an audience” William H Macy

“The ideas of the great playwrights are almost always larger than the experiences of even
the best actors.” Stella Adler

“The actor is the athlete of the heart” Antonin Artaud

“Working in the theatre has a lot in common with unemployment” Arthur Gingold

“It is a difficult profession and a frightening profession. Why is this? Just as the character
doesn’t know how he’s going to survive, as an actor, when you get cast in that role, the
fear is, How am I going to pull this off? And we have technique, which we bring to bear to
cover every base that you possibly can. But the question remains, How do I pull this off?,
and the answer is not forthcoming‹never has been, never will be. You have to walk in
terrified that you’re going to fail. There’s no getting around the fact that most actors, a lot
of the time, feel like frauds. And the mature actor says, “That’s great.”  William H Macy

“Create your own method. Don’t depend slavishly on mine. Make up something that will
work for you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you” Konstantin Stanislavski

Thinking about Tactics

Tactics (traditionally called ‘actioning’) are ‘how’ the actor works off their partner and how
they deliver the lines of the text. You should never have to think about the right way to say
a line for two reasons. First, the line has its own rhythm and cadence and second because
with the correct tactics being played, the line will take care of itself.

So what is a tactic? A tactic is a strategy for achieving a goal. A tactic is best expressed as
something that you can do to someone else, to get what you want from them. THREATEN,
BULLY, COAX, TORMENT, TEASE, FLICK, DODGE etc. Tactics are playable by
actors. They immediately engage the actor in an entire psycho-physical process that brings
them alive in the moment. By using tactics, the actor is always engaged in a continuous
flow of action.

How do I pick the right tactic? After you’ve selected your target, goal or objective, then
you will know what kinds of tactics you might play. If you’re goal is to ‘Knock Someone
Off their High Horse’ you might choose DERIDE, INSULT, MOCK, TEASE, LOWER,
KICK, or UNDERMINE as tactics. Again, they are immediately playable, but not all tactics
suit all situations. Some, like PUNCH, SLAP, SPANK or KISS sound very physical, but
they are not meant to be literally performed. These tactics given you a sense of the quality
of the tactic, without you have to overtly perform this action.

Tactics need to change. It’s too easy to get locked into similar or the same tactic, so you
should have a reserve ready. Some actors add tactics to the sides of their scripts and that
can work quite nicely, but it tends to mean they set in concrete their tactics and their
reactions very early on. Ideally, you should be able to play any tactic that you believe will
work within the given circumstances.

To learn more about tactics why not contact me or even come to an acting class starting
soon!

Hamlet’s Advice to the Players 

In the past, I’ve had the fond privilege to teach the techniques of acting Shakespeare to
young actors. This is NOT a post about acting Shakespeare. Instead, what I aim to do is to
light your imagination around some exceptional acting advice that Shakespeare offers us
when a fussing Hamlet offers his amateur perspective on acting, to the professional players
that arrived at Elsinore. Amateur he may be, but thoroughly helpful the advice is, to all of
us. So this post is focused around understanding Hamlet’s advice and how it can help you
too.

I’m just going to focus on a portion, but to me, it’s the portion that really counts. I don’t
doubt the rest is valuable, but this is what I’m going to blog about today:

HAMLET: 
 Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to
you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it,
as many of your players do, I had as lief the
town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air
too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently;
for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say,
the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget
a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to
very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who
for the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such
a fellow whipped for o’erdoing Termagant; it
out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.

FIRST PLAYER:
I warrant your honour.

HAMLET:
Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion
be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the
word to the action; with this special observance, o’erstep not
the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is
from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the
first and now, was and is, to hold, as ’twere, the
mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature,
scorn her own image, and the very age and body of
the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone,
or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful
laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the
censure of the which one must in your allowance
o’erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be
players that I have seen play, and heard others
praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely,
that, neither having the accent of Christians nor
the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so
strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of
nature’s journeymen had made men and not made them
well, they imitated humanity so abominably.

Shakespeare/Hamlet tell us to speak the lines ‘trippingly’ - that’s with a general swiftness,

not to labour over them. He insists that it is performed ‘as I pronounced it to you’. It’s easy
to think that he’s asking them to repeat it as he has said it (in other words: he’s a bad
director giving line readings) but instead, see it as Shakespeare saying ‘As I have written it
for you’ (I can hear Mamet saying ‘Just say the f*cking lines!’).

‘But if you mouth it’ - if you ‘mouth’ the lines – if you simply go through the motions, as
many actors do, I’d rather anyone (even the Town Crier) shout the lines out, cos that would
be better than simply mouthing the lines. This is an anti-dote to people who think Mamet’s
instructions to speak up and ‘just the say the lines’ means just mouthing the lines. Don’t be
so naive and simplistic about it, there’s much more.

Next Shakespeare warns us about extraneous gesture, ‘soaring the air too much’ - he tells
us that our gesture and movement must be gentle, or let’s think subtle. Then he warns
against getting too carried away in the emotional storm of a role, but instead, temper it with
smoothness. Mamet could have written the same thing. The next part, ‘Oh it offends
me’ well, for the Method actor, they’d say, it offends them to see someone hamming it up,
and being empty or not living the role, or feeling the emotion. For the Practical Aesthetics
actor, we’d say much the same about the Method actors. :o)

Hamlet/Shakespeare continues warning us, not to be too tame, don’t be too subtle and
underact, but let your ‘own discretion’ (Common Sense) be your guide. And then some
simple and brilliant advice. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. Connect
what you’re doing with what you’re saying and what you’re saying with what you’re doing
– a call for psychophysical action?

Then we get a special note, a special observance – don’t step beyond the modesty of
truthfulness, for anything that goes beyond this, is not acting, it is not ‘playing’. And then
Shakespeare/Hamlet gives us a beautiful description of the purpose of acting/playing: to
hold the mirror up to nature. Note here he doesn’t say to become nature, to ape nature, to
copy nature, to become the role, to tell a story BUT… ‘to hold the mirror up to nature’. In
the mirror is the reflection of nature, not nature itself.  In other words: truthfulness but not
necessarily realism.

Guest Blog on Comedy Acting with Ian

Watt
Today’s blog is a Guest Blog on Comedy Acting, written by our Guest Blogger, Mr Ian
Watt.

I noticed the subject of corpsing was raised in Mark’s blog recently. The practical solution
was for the actor to focus on their essential action and it got me thinking about other banana
skins which can trip up an actor in the serious matter of comedy acting.

Playing the lines for laughs 

Laughter is a powerfully seductive sound of to a performer. It both comforts, and confirms
the audience likes you! It’s addictive quality however, can tempt the actor to play the lines
or action for laughs. They then find they’ve stepped beyond the imaginary circumstances of
the play and turned it into a sketch show destroying the focus on the narrative or “story”.

My own experiences as a Stand Up comedian taught me to look audience members in the

eye, and that it was often very useful to carry a big stick! Comedians make direct contact
with the audience; if and when the laughs come they can enjoy them with them. The
comedian’s sole aim is to rack up the laugh count and squeeze as many as they can from
their material. The actor should match their performance with the author’s intent and the
overall context of the story.

An audience comment after a play I performed in recently was it was good because the
actors didn’t laugh at the same time as the audience.

Anticipation and signalling

Especially on long runs, the actor runs the risk of “showing” the audience something
funny is about to happen. The actor knows what is coming next, anticipates the joke and the
riotous laughter to follow. The audience picks up on the signal and the potentially side-
splitting moment the writer has crafted is reduced in the process. Comedy is devious. It
often depends on surprise and misleading the audience.

Ignoring the audience reaction

Another common pratfall for the actor is to disregard the audience’s laughter. This can
result in important lines being drowned out. The actor has to pause the thought and action
until the audience is ready to continue. Laughter can break the actor’s concentration of
being in the moment.

Summary

Mark’s solution to the corpsing problem is probably the best advice to take with you on
stage –  focus on the other actor and concentrate on achieving your essential action. Finally,
a Polish director once commented to me “Fucking stand up comedians!” Yes – comedy is a
funny thing.
Ian Watt is an experienced actor, comedian, teacher and designer. He appeared in Mark
Westbrook’s production of The Emotional Life of Furniture at the Tron Theatre in
Glasgow. He also attends Mark’s Acting Classes in Practical Aesthetics and Monologue
Preparation.

What to do with a Script

No one ever taught me to professionally read a script of any kind. Over the years, I
muddled through. If you read a script like a story, you are reading it from a literary
narrative perspective. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you are missing an
understanding of the sense of the dramatic.  I worry that Drama Schools and Universities do
not teach students how to read a script properly. Why not? Cos no one taught them either.
So, we get a set of highly analytical tools that offer us an academic perspective, which is no
use to anyone who wants to use it to produce, act, write or direct.

Coquelin once wrote that the actor “must read the play carefully over many times, until he
has grasped the intention of the author”. Too many actors are willing to accept their first
impression of the script, and then rush off to highlight their lines in pink.  But without the
tools to discover ‘the intention of the author’ who can blame them?  It doesn’t matter how
many times you read a play as a story, if you don’t understand how the play is made, you’re
off to a losing start.

Only after going to the Atlantic Theater Company’s Acting School did I have anything like
a set of tools that could be used for professionally reading a script. At Atlantic, we were
taught to use some simple Aristotelian ideas to disect a script and come to a solid
understanding of it so that we could figure out our character’s part in the script.

I’d like to offer you these tools in an easily accessible format and talk you through them.
My advanced students won’t find this particularly new, but might find the explanation
interesting. When I pick up a script, I read it once through for pleasure – I published a guide
to read throughs in a past blog. From then on, I’m looking at the script as a tool of work, so
I ask the question:

Q – Who’s Story is it? In other words, who is the protagonist? Over the years many people
have described the protagonist in different ways, but I would define it as the character that
undergoes the most change in the course of the events of the play/film.

Q – What is the Protagonist’s Driving Underlying Need? I’ve added the word ‘driving’ to
my own training, because I felt that the need should compel the character throughout the
film or play.

Q – Through the Script, What Conflicts Arise As the Protagonist Attempts to Fulfill their
Need? Make a list of all the things: that happen, that others do (the antagonist or
antagonists) and they do to themselves that serve as barriers, or obstacles, to the fulfillment
of the need. Work through the play until you know all the conflicts. You’re uncovering the
‘drama’ of the story of the film or play as you do so. Drama after all is conflict in action.

Q – How does the Protagonist Change During the Course of the Story? Look at their
starting point, the need. Look at the conflicts. Now see where they end up.

Then I do something of the same for the antagonist, and lastly for my character to see how I
fit into the overall story. (If I’m not in the lead role or the antagonist).

I use these exact same questions when I’m writing a play to ensure that the character’s have
clear driving needs, conflicts and journeys. The clarity it provides to me as a writer is
astonishing. This is the clarity it offers the actor too. Yet, I fear, many are still willing to
pick up the script and start talking, as if the words were all there was there.

Is this all there is to know? No. Of course not. BUT, if this IS all you did, you’d still be
better off than the people who only read the script through or immediately get their
highlighter out and starting counting the number of lines they’ve got in the script. These
questions unlock the script, and help you start approaching the role. Whether you’re an
actor, director or writer, these questions each help you gain clarity.

Getting into Character

If you’ve read any of my previous posts on this topic, you’ll already know what I’m about
to say, but I’d like to explain it a little more.

Much of our training, the curriculum and even individual outcomes for qualifications
demand that we’re able to ‘get into character’ or ‘sustain character’. I remember long ago at
college, one of the criteria to be marked on was ‘can effectively step in and out of
character’. Well, whatever that means, I’d like to take the opportunity to describe how I
believe you can ‘get into character’, or at least have that feeling.

The times that you have ‘felt’ in character, you were not the character. No one can be, it’s
well meaning nonsense. During these times, you made a connection to the text that allowed
you to perform the actions of the character in such a way that you felt it working right. In
other words, you were not the character, but you were doing something very similar to the
character. You were performing their actions.

I agree, you may have felt ‘in character’. I understand, I’ve felt it too. But I wasn’t and
sadly, neither were you. What happened is that you performed these actions consistently
and repeatedly and they weren’t the types of actions or tactics that you would do yourself,
so that you felt removed from yourself. Add to this that you became so immersed in what
you were doing that your SELF consciousness didn’t prevent you from you enjoying acting
the role. Furthermore, you were so immersed in it, that you felt that everything you were
doing WAS the character. Well, it was, but it was you doing the character’s actions without
fear, self consciousness – it was you truly focused. Have you ever been to the
cinema/movie theater, watched a film and found yourself really sucked into the film and
then you think… oh yeah, I’m at the movies. Well, that’s what’s happening to you on stage:
your focus, concentration and attention was so powerfully drawn that you had a brand new
experience. Under these conditions, you felt highly successful and surprised. You named it
‘being in character’ because you didn’t know what else to call it.

BUT… but.. you cry: what about all these actors saying it takes ages to get ‘out of
character’? and haven’t I felt that feeling where it’s hard to shake the character off? Yes.
Yes! I know that feeling too, but it wasn’t you inhabiting the character. It was the
characteristics of the character inhabiting YOU.
Spooky? No, no, read what I wrote. It wasn’t the character inhabiting you, it was the
habitual characteristics of the character being inside you. What does this mean then? It
means that if you perform the same repeated psychophysical actions repeatedly, you will
eventually habituate those actions and any associated feelings. You will then find it a little
difficult to shake them off immediately. Some of the residual connection between action
and feeling will remain. That’s why you struggle to shake off the character. I remember in
University my friend playing Carol in Oleanna. She came home and was horrible to
everyone, then she said ‘oh sorry, I’m just struggling to get out of character’. Everyone
laughed, but the theatre students took it very seriously. When we examine that situation,
she had been rehearsing the final act of Oleanna, where Carol’s actions (her tactics) are
very negative, challenging, confronting, insulting and attacking. If she spent all day
performing those, no doubt she habituated those tactics and any associated feelings.

Character Motivations: Underlying

Driving Needs for Actors, Writers and
Directors
Yesterday I wrote about what to do with the script, examining the starting point for actors,
writers and directors when it comes to script analysis.

Today I want to just highlight one of those questions, WHAT IS THE CHARACTER’S

UNDERLYING DRIVING NEED?

But what are the needs? How do you establish them? Well, it is often produced through the
conflicts the character meets and the obstacles they attempt to overcome. However, if
you’re unsure about how to even start with needs, they are personal and basic. If you like,
they are what Marshall Rosenberg calls ‘Present Needs’. They drive the character
throughout the play, and without identifying it you fail to make an effective bridge to the
character through the script.

What kinds of needs are there? Rosenberg splits them into the following sections:

1. CONNECTION such things as Acceptance, Security, Love and Respect.

2. PHYSICAL WELL BEING such things Sleep, Food, Sex and Shelter. (Maslow in
Essence)
3. HONESTY such as the Truth and Integrity.
4. PLAY such as Joy, Creativity and Expression.
5. PEACE such as Order, Harmony and Inspiration.
6. MEANING (a huge category this but) such as Understanding, Hope and Purpose.
7. AUTONOMY such as Freedom, Choice and Independence
To see ALL of Marshall Rosenberg’s PERSONAL NEEDS and use them as a short-hand
lexicon when answering this question, this is a link to Rosenberg’s site page about Personal
Needs. Writers, directors and actors, print them out and use it as a sort of cheat sheet for
working out the Underlying Driving Needs of characters.

When I recently analysed the re-working of my old play Swingboats, I found that using this
question made it clear when characters were just talking and when they were involved in
the drama of the play.

Learning to Act
I get a lot of people asking me if I can help them learn to act. For an acting coach, that’s a
tricky one. Why ? I hear you ask. Because surely if I’m good at my job, the answer is yes.
Also, aren’t I always saying ANYONE can learn to act.  Yes it’s true, I do feel anyone
could learn to act. To me, living truthfully, which is the first half of Meisner’s famous
quote is possible for all of us. It’s the second part that takes the gift. How do you connect
your truthfulness to the work of someone else? That’s a tough one and it’s the very thing
that separates all of our acting techniques from each other.

Before I can teach anyone to act, they need to want it. Not just think they want it, but really
want it. It needs to drive the hottest spike of pain through their skull to think of, or to see
themselves doing anything else. Not an adolescent crush on acting, not the thought that you
could be in the movies, but a gnawing pain in your very being that will not shut the fuck up
until you act. If you have that as a starting point, perhaps you could learn to act.

But WANT is not enough. In the past, I heard a lot of people tell me they want to act, they
want to write, they want to direct etc etc. I say fine, because I know they won’t make it.
How do I know? Because want is not enough. The actions you take towards you goal signal
your intent, not your words of desire. If you want to act, show me with your actions.

Well, you think, I’m reading your bloody blog aren’t I? Isn’t that action? Well, it’s a start.
Well, I want to come to class, is that a start? Sure, but what else are you doing? My
favourite people in the world are those who just do what they need to do, regardless of all
else. The people I admire, didn’t let ANYTHING get in their way, not money, not
education, not disability, not ANYTHING. They get out and do.  Life is action, or it is
stillness. There is beauty in stillness. Those who appreciate stillness have a calm like no
other people. BUT inaction isn’t stillness, it’s action tempered by fear.

We fear. We fear failure. We fear someone proving to us that we aren’t as good as the best
people. Let me tell you something I think I’ve learned. That’s vanity. That’s all it is.
Vanity. Excessive pride, coming before a long, long, long fall. The difference between the
successful people and the unsuccessful people is the level of action that the successful
people were willing to take. When you put your desire into action, it’s amazing what
happens.
Stop making excuses, there are always plenty of them and you’ll never run out.

Take action or move on.

TEN TIPS FOR ACTORS ON HOW TO

LEARN YOUR LINES

Learning your lines is one of the basic foundations of being an actor on any level. If
you don’t know your lines, there’s no excuse, you simply haven’t held up your end of the
deal. They should fire you because frankly, you can’t do your job.

ONE: Don’t learn them in structured phrases, you’ll find it impossible to change the
phrasing.  Learn them by rote, like your times tables, devoid of meaning but with the
flexibility to change in the moment. This will make learning them more difficult, but more
satisfying when you can change your utterance in any way you choose. Once locked in,
‘line readings’ remain precisely the same time and time again. Regardless of what the other
actors do, which is as truthless as possible.

TWO: Work through your script and use a highlighter pen (I like pink or orange, yellow
can fade quickly) and this will focus you on what you have to learn.

THREE: The first step is the old cover and peek, cover and peek. Say your line, then cover
with a cue card (or some other type of card) and see if you can repeat. Once you remember
the line, move onto the next line, then go back and do all of the lines. So 1st line, then 2nd
line, then 1st and 2nd line together, 3rd line, 1st, 2nd and 3rd line together. Etc.

FOUR: Buy a Dictaphone or download the software for your iPhone or iPod (many phones
have built in voice recorders). This will help you in lots of ways. You can use it to record
all of your lines and listen to them, but read them cold and plain, like a robot. This will
prevent you from engraving the speech patterns into your memory. You can also use a
dictaphone to record the other character/actor’s lines and this will help you to learn your
cue lines. You can pause it in between whilst you practice your lines.

FIVE: Break everything down. You can learn a piece of script in paragraphs, lines, or even
phrases separated by commas.

SIX: If you’re struggling to learn any line, do you fully understand it? Ensure that you
really do understand it and then focus on the most important words of the sentence or
paragraph.  Connect the important words.

SEVEN: Learn the sense. Spend time on difficult chunks of text looking at how the writer
develops the sense through the words.
EIGHT: One method that people use is to write or type out their lines. This is great for
literally ‘writing the lines into your head’. So, if you have a monologue, try writing the
lines out, a few times and you’ll find they’ve entered your head. BUT make sure that you
don’t develop an internal rhythm for the words while you do it, which would fix their
delivery in a fixed pattern.

NINE: Try writing out just the first letter of each word in difficult sentences, use them as
triggers. T W O J T F L O E W I D S U T A T. You could also use the first word of each
sentence to develop further triggers for the structure of your words.

TEN: Sing the lines to yourself on the way to rehearsal. Singing distracts you from rhythms
you may have developed. Change the song as often as possible to keep it fresh.

Once you know your lines, try distracting yourself with exercising such as press or push-
ups and squat thrusts to physically challenge yourself and your concentration.

Now, the next time someone denigrates your profession with the single worse question they
could possibly ask an actor “how do you learn all those lines?”, you can tell them.

Getting into Character is Being in “Flow”

In my previous blog article on Getting into Character, I spoke of the feeling of being in
character being generated from the repetition of psychophysiological actions.   This feeling
that we experience is described as “being in character”. It’s when we feel connected to the
role and completely in the moment.

Since reading Sharon Marie Carnicke’s book Stanislavsky in Focus, I’ve been intrigued by

the idea of “flow”. My own research leads me to connect the sense of an actor feeling “in
character” to actually being “in flow”.

Wikipedia, the great source of all net-savvy knowledge describes “Flow” as “the mental
state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a
feeling of energized focus.”  This idea was proposed and explore by the now highly
regarded psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Click to view his TED talk on FLOW.

Within many fields, we seem the sense of flow repeated represented by different terms such
as “in the zone”, “on the ball” and for actors, let’s add one more “in character”.

There are 7 conditions that are present with an individual experiencing “flow”. These seem
to be present regardless of cultural or educational differences.

(This taken directly from Csikszentmihalyi’s TED presentation)

CONDITION 1: Completely involved what they are doing – focused, concentrated.

CONDITION 2: A sense of ecstasy (being outside of everyday reality).

CONDITION 3: Great inner clarity, knowing what needs to be done, and how well we are
doing it.

CONDITION 4: Knowing that the activity is doable and that I have skills that are adequate
to the task.

CONDITION 5: A sense of serenity, no worries about oneself, and a feeling of growing
beyond the boundaries of the ego.

CONDITION 6: Timelessness, thoroughly in the present time (what we call ‘being in the
moment’).

CONDITION 7: Intrinsic Motivation – whatever produces the flow becomes its own
reward.

All of these conditions chime with me. As you work your way through, I think that you will
recognise yourself, and those moments when you felt that you were ‘in character’. These
are times when you felt at one with the character, well, you weren’t. The character isn’t
real. You are real, and you were mid-Flow.

Some Introductory Thoughts on Voice and

Speech
This post is mainly aimed at my new acting students that began their ‘Introduction to
Acting’ course this evening. However, it could and should be of benefit to anyone studying
acting or theatre, and interested in some basic thoughts on voice and speech. So here we go:

Voice and Speech are often taught separately in the USA whereas in the UK, they’re taught
as one thing. Personally, I find it difficult to conceive of why one function of the same
mouth would be separated from another function of the same mouth and all of its
components. One feeds the other, one accompanies the other, and both rely on each other to
work effectively. So, at present, as part of my classes, I teach a combination of Voice and
Speech as part of the warm up for the class. I place a high value on warm up, it’s an
important grounding time, it’s personal time and it’s a way of coming together as a class.
To me a slightly less ‘arty’ way of ‘crossing the creative threshold’, but if you prefer that
way more power to you.

You can’t escape it, the voice and speech are truly essential to the actor. Whether you are
focused mainly on voice like a radio actor or commercial voice over talent, whether you’re
working in the theatre where you need to fill a huge room with an individual, powerful, but
subtle voice or a television or film actor who has the boom floating above their head: your
voice and speech are the tools of your trade.

For this reason, you need to take excellent care of your voice. Voice is distinctively yours –
no one has a voice like you, not even close family members. Our voice often reveals a huge
amount about us. But your speech style, as I am often ribbed for, is entirely habitual. You
learn it, and you can change it through habitual practice. Speech also reveals a great deal
about us and people often can get very emotional during investigations into their voice and
speech. That’s why voice and speech teachers should be particularly sensitive to this. Not
all are, in my experience and opinion.

You may tell the story of the play through your body, but the central method of
communicating the playwright’s ideas is through their words coupled with your ‘actions’.
Since this is such a primary skill requirement, then voice and speech plays a central part in
actor training. The actor simply must have voice and speech within their control and under
their command.

Let’s look at the voice some more. The word ‘voice’ in this context usually refers to the
sound is makes, the tone of the sound. To grasp the voice, you need to understand it. The
voice has 3 distinct sections:

 The Excitor
 The Vibrator
 Reasonator

The excitor is what causes the sound, it is the power behind it, in this case, it is the breath.
The power comes through the nose or mouth as breath, down into the lungs and out as the
EXCITOR.

The vibrator is whatever resistance the EXCITOR meets on the way to the RESONATOR
(in this case, it’s the vocal chords).

The resonator in the human body comes in three different forms: the pharynx, the mouth
and the nose – the cavities help to create the sound resonation.

We just finished discovering the three parts of the voice: the excitor, the vibrator and finally
the resonator(s). It’s possible to explore the 3 resonator cavaties personally. Try this:

Close your lips, gently lower the soft palate and continue to make an ‘M’ sound – That’s
one resonator.

Close the mouth and use the pharynx and nose to continue to make the ‘NG’ sound – the
like the end of the word ‘SONG’ – That’s another resonator.

By opening and closing the resonator, you can get an EXPLOSIVE ‘B’ sound. When you
narrow the exit, you get a ‘V’.
The difference here is that Voice is sound making equipment. Speech is shaping the sound
into communicative words and noises.

Don’t be confused, it’s a matter of practice like any other physical skill. You can’t expect to
learn to juggle in a few minutes, it takes hours of practice, but once you’ve got it, you’ve
got it.

The next area to look is BREATH: the excitor.

Normally we don’t think about our in-breath and out-breath too much unless we experience
pain. We breathe in slowly, we breath out quite quickly. BUT THIS IS THE OPPOSITE
OF THE BREATH PATTERN NEEDED FOR ACTORS.

In order to speak powerfully on stage, radio or screen, the actor needs minimum in-breath
time and maximum out-breath time, to produce enough vocal power to tackle even
Shakespeare’s tricky length of lines.

From our first breath to our last, breathing is an instrinsic part of each and every part of our
lives. The breath is both instinctive and expressive. It is a vital part of our physical
functioning as a human being, but also an essential part of our emotive capacity to express
ourselves.

There are two types of breath: the inhale and the exhale (or the in-breath and the out-
breath).  Breathing in prepares us, it fills us with the oxygen which is vital to both, thought
and to the fight or flight instinct. The out-breath is how we communicate, it is the
expressive breath. We ‘inspire’ on the in-breath and we ‘express’ on the out.

In times of stress or pressure (when we exert many times), we hold our breath. Yet it
requires a natural and relaxed breathing cycle for the actor to both inspire and express
themselves. We have to learn to breathe through our toughest experiences.

When we breathe in, the 3-dimensional barrel of our breathing apparatus should become
fully inflated, whilst remaining free from tension. Likewise, when we release the breath and
allow the air to travel out of us, we should let the deflation be entirely unimpeded.  It is
common for many beginning actors to have not considered their breathing when they begin
taking classes. Many people think the belly button should be sucked in with the in-breath
and pushed outwards with the out-breath. Nothing could be further from the truth. On the
in-breath the barrel inflates, on the out-breath the barrel deflates. This process should be a
cycle and not feel like two separate oppositional forces. The breath is an endless circle of in
and out, inspire and express.

Breath is expression, breath is spirit, when we breathe no more, we live no more. It is ever
present in our living existence, but we take it for granted. Each and every actor, no matter
their level or experience should take the time to learn more about the ‘breath of life’. 
Breath is one of the few outlets for the actor’s inner expressiveness and feelings. Without
deeper knowledge, experience and exploration of the part it plays in acting, the actor is
missing something vital.

Breath is projection, breath is tension, breath is relaxation, breath is articulation of thought

and feeling, breath is inspiration and expression.

The Problem With Text

If you ask them to improvise a scene where they are breaking up with someone, they can
almost instantly bring a compelling performance, interesting, engaging, varied, nuanced
and very real. Given a little practise, even a novice can imagine this situation and produce
believable performance. 

But there is a consistent problem that I see when people are working with scripted text.
Here's the problem:
Acting begins with the words. When we begin to act, we have a set of words that is given to
us from the author. We must then find a way to animate them. And most people choose to
animate them solely on the basis of their literal meaning. 

This type of performance engages the verbal aspect of communication. 

Every wondered why your arms flap around like T-Rex when you're acting? It's because
your entire gestural system isn't powered by what you're saying. It is there to support your
verbal communication, but it cannot work from the words alone. 

So why don't our arms flap around in real life? And how to do we get back to bringing
those words fully to life with our entire communicating self?

The answer is simple. We must uncover the INTENTION. Everything comes from our
INTENTION - including the words we speak and our gestures.

 
Discovering the intention of the character is the most important part of working with a
script. Then speaking from that intention is will bring the words to life while bringing you
life. 

The improviser unwittingly has this on their side. Break up with someone - their intention
is clear. Their thoughts, actions, feelings, gestures, words, action, etc all fall We must
discover the intention of our characters and force it to dominate our thoughts, our actions,
and our vocality - the way we speak. 

Without the intention, we are forced to impersonate the most superficial elements of being
human and our hands flap around like a movie dinosaur.

Start with intention. 

The Park Bench of Truth

When I studied improvisation with UCB, we learned a simple exercise. The Park Bench of
Truth. Now, to be honest, there's a couple dozen version of this, but most of them are
mince. But this one makes sense to me, has a real purpose and has demonstrable results for
acting students.

In this version of the exercise, two students come up and sit on the bench and they chat.
Often it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s awkward. Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes,
they feel like they have to perform something. But that is not the aim. The aim of the
exercise is to have two people chat in front of a group of others. To establish a benchmark. 

But all they have to do is talk, chat, have a conversation, get to know the other person,
interact with the other person.

When finally we have a park bench pair who do just that, we can establish
what ’truthful’ acting is. I ask the class to describe what they see. They usually say
something like: 

“Comfortable”

“At Ease”

“Natural”

“Fun”

“Relaxed”

“Funny”
“Enjoyable”

“Real”

There are the reference points to associate with truthful acting. We will use them as a
benchmark and we will come back to them time and again when we are teaching acting, or
doing repetition. It’s easy to say okay, but how does this feel compared to our benchmark?
It gives us a shared reference for the acting that we aim to produce at this studio, on stage
and on screen. 

It is a deceptively simple exercise. People WILL try to perform. Somehow the idea that
you’re not ‘acting’ or ‘performing’ seems foreign even to complete beginners too. 

Handling Bad Language

Sometimes as actors, we're called upon to use bad language. Characters speak like real
people, and some people swear and curse. But whenever we are called upon to
swear/curse/use bad language in a play or film, something of the inner child comes out.

We feel vindicated to swear in public and so we often accentuate them. Actually, it’s quite
the opposite of what is required. There are two ways to handle this type of language. 

ONE:  Colourful Description

       If a character says ‘I’ve got no fucking clue’. You don’t emphasis the F word. It isn’t
the important keyword in the sentence.

       It is the lack of a clue that is key to this sentence, the F bomb is for colour and
emphasis.   

TWO: Aggression

       When you are aggressive towards someone, the curse word becomes the focus. You’re
a fucking loser. You hit the ‘fucking’ hard.

The difference is very important. I once wrote a play filled with colourful description, but
the director didn’t control the actor’s use of the swear words, and the play didn’t work
because instead of description, it sounded so aggressive. But I see it weekly, so it’s
something that we can all be careful of. 

If you get the wrong emphasis, you start to bring an intention which takes the scene in a
direction you shouldn't go. It becomes too much about those words and not about the other
keywordsin each sentence.  
Self Test:

Which should you stress or not stress?

1. It just a fucking joke.

2. You’re a cocksucker.

3. Gimme a fucking break.

4. Piss off!

How did you do?

Substitution and the Art of Acting

Characters can be murderers, soldiers, superheroes, queens, nurses and anything else out of
our own experience. To play a role successfully, it is thought that we must have something
in common with the role, that we must identify with them. People believe that we must be
able to find the character in ourselves. That’s why actors ‘go to dark places’ in the name of
character identification.  

That’s the logic. But personally, I think it’s bullshit. And it doesn’t really help actors, or if
it does, it isn’t psychologically healthy - and perhaps it’s unnecessary. 

The acting teacher Uta Hagen suggested that instead we find ourselves in the character, we
use personal substitutions for incidents in these character’s lives. She suggests that trying to
appreciate Blanche DuBois from her own position was impossible, she was down to earth
and Dubois wasn’t in her realm of experience. I admire this admission that actors cannot
realistically hope to find the character in themselves. It’s a very positive realisation. 

Hagen suggests we substitute something that has a similar essence and then accept them
within the fictional circumstances. So, if in the scene, a character calls her character a bitch,
but she isn’t offended by that word, she imagines someone calling her another game, and
using her imagination accepts that, and acts from that. She substitutes the thing in the scene
for something familiar and personal. Her substitution helps you believe in the imaginary
situation. 

I would suggest that substitution is the best way to play without identifying with the role.
But I think it’s something simpler and yet more essential that should be the focus.  
If you are playing a scene where the mother of two children is begging for forgiveness for
murdering them - you do not have a life experience to cover this. So, I would suggest you
start from begging for forgiveness. What’s that like to you? Who would you have to beg
forgiveness from?What would you have to do to have to beg forgiveness from your
husband, your mother, your wife, your best friend? This will activate you, not to believe in
the imaginary, but to behave in a way that is in line with the essence of the character’s
psychological actions.

You are playing Hamlet, he cannot decide whether to kill Claudius or not. You may or may
not have this experience, but we don’t need your experience. What we need is for you to be
waying up a difficult decision, or persuading something to ‘do the right thing’. Don’t seek
for a rea experience to parallel this, you may not have one. Instead, imagine. Imagine that
you are waying up a difficult decision. Observe your behaviour. Now bring this to the scene
with Hamlet.

You are Clarice Starling, you are entering the facility where Hannibal Lector is kept. You
are driven by needing to belong, and you are being given a chance to belong to the FBI. If
you succeed in this mission, you may belong soon. When you are arrive, you are treated
like dirt, you leered at by prisoners and you are toyed with by Lector. You want respect in
the scene. You certainly don’t have these life experiences. But can you imagine trying to
impress someone? Bring this to the scene. Try to get their respect like you would try in
your in substitution. 

In Practical Aesthetics, this is called Acting - As-If. It substitutes the imaginary world of
the film or play with the same psychological action from your own world. It’s imaginary
still, it’s not emotion memory. However, it does mean that you can play any type of role
believably by burrowing into the psychological action in the scene, not trying to play
elements of the character. 

Simple Scene Analysis for Actors

I often find that even professional actors don’t have the scene analysis skills of some of our
part-time students. It’s not their fault, sometimes - no one ever offered them such practical
tools. 

The technique that we teach to our full and part time acting students at ACS includes a
fairly robust system for analysing story, script and scene. 

Today, I’d like to offer a stripped down simplified version of this, not a replacement but an
alternative for quickly analysing scenes. 

First, read the scene through a few times, it matters that you are familiar with the text. 

Next, dig around in what we call the given circumstances, but we might also call ‘the
context of the scene’, or simply, facts about the scene and its characters. Don’t embellish,
don’t get obsessed with something they say or do, keep it to just irrefutable facts. At this
stage, we’re not that interested in your interpretation - so just keep it real. There’s a man,
he’s 40, he’s looking in the window, he’s wearing a suit, he’s got a mobile phone, he calls
his wife. Etc. Keep it very factual. Don’t infer something from what is said or done. Keep it
factual.

Next, I want to know what’s driving the character in the scene? What do they want? Or
more specific, what do they want the other character or characters to do? Or more
specifically, as a verb, what do they want them to do? Never settle for understand, know,
see, realise, etc. Always dig deeper than this. When they understand, what will they do, as a
verb.  This creates a really strong understanding of what the whole scene is about for that
character. A helpful cheat is to imagine the perfect ending for the scene and how the other
character fits into that. 

So now you know what’s driving them. Let’s imagine the reality of the situation they find
themselves in. They might want the criminal to confess, but he’s pretending the murderer
was someone else. So that’s what we might call ’the reality’ or the ‘obstacle’ they face. 

Now imagine how they go about trying to get what they want, when confronted by this
reality. What tools or tactics do they use to achieve this goal?

Finally look at the journey through the scene, from where to where does the character travel
in the scene? From anger to sadness? From knowledge to loss? From hope to victory? This
will help you understand the journey YOU have to take when you represent that character
in the scene.  

If you found this blog post helpful, please consider sharing it with someone else. 

Where The Magic Is

Last night’s Step 8 Monologue class was exhilarating. I love seeing a breakthrough. The
class was small, but this meant we had the time to clarify some points of technique and
some thoughts on acting that 

The magic of acting is the illusion that we are who we say we are. The characters. The
methods to do this are many, some work, some don’t and the greater problem is discovering
which is which.

Acting is just like magic. The audience get their pleasure from being fooled. They know the
magic isn’t real, but they enjoy it nonetheless. The actor is a creator of illusions. They may
be fascinated by how we do it, but their delight is in being fooled, not in how we fool them.

In 2006, Forrest Whitaker won just about every award on the planet for his portrayal of Idi
Amin in The Last King of Scotland. I do not decry that achievement, it is outstanding. Part
of his preparation was learning Swahili. The role requires that there are some lines spoken
in Swahili with a distinct East African accent. I admire this, language acquisition is tough
enough.

But I question the necessity. The audience did not come to see a man speak Swahili with an
East African accent. The audience came to be entertained. Swahili is just part of the magic
of the character. The audience are excited by the illusion of the character. The illusion that
the character speaks fluent Swahili. But they do not need or require the actor to speak fluent
Swahili to enjoy this. 

The magician is a highly skilled performer who uses techniques that create the illusion of
magic. The audience are excited by the illusion of the magic. The illusion that the magician
has done something that cannot be explained. But they do not require that the magician can
actually make the coin disappear. They just need to believe it. 

Forrest Whitaker does an immense job in that role. But he didn’t need to learn Swahili. And
his success encourages other actors to waste their time as wizards, trying to do real magic,
when the audience will just as easily enjoy being fooled by a few words spoken
convincingly. There is no need to be a wizard. 

Maybe he does it to help himself, not the audience. Maybe it’s part of transformation into
the character. Maybe. And maybe the magician needs to believe they are a wizard to do
magic, to convince themselves they are capable of real magic, not just illusion. Maybe. 

In class, my student is doing a sad monologue about a man talking to his dying friend. I do
not need the actor to imagine his friend is dying. He does not need to believe he has a dying
friend. He needs to create an illusion that he is talking to a dying friend. This illusion may
be created in many ways, but the easiest is to imagine that he’s in a hospital and his son is
unconscious and he’s speaking to him. The words of this monologue will still make sense
and he will be emotionally connected to it. 

First, I asked him to speak to his son as a short improvisation. He was quiet, visibly
emotional and he didn’t say much, but his physiological response was correct for the scene.
For those short moments, the class was silent and barely breathed. 

Next, the actor should imagine this same situation for about ten seconds, speaking to
himself in his head and then begin the monologue, still imagining the son, and letting his
imagination, his words and his feelings mingle.  

The illusion was astonishing, captivating. The illusion delighted. Be the illusionist. 

Simple Scene Analysis for Actors

I often find that even professional actors don’t have the scene analysis skills of some of our
part-time students. It’s not their fault, sometimes - no one ever offered them such practical
tools. 
The technique that we teach to our full and part time acting students at ACS includes a
fairly robust system for analysing story, script and scene. 

Today, I’d like to offer a stripped down simplified version of this, not a replacement but an
alternative for quickly analysing scenes. 

First, read the scene through a few times, it matters that you are familiar with the text. 

Next, dig around in what we call the given circumstances, but we might also call ‘the
context of the scene’, or simply, facts about the scene and its characters. Don’t embellish,
don’t get obsessed with something they say or do, keep it to just irrefutable facts. At this
stage, we’re not that interested in your interpretation - so just keep it real. There’s a man,
he’s 40, he’s looking in the window, he’s wearing a suit, he’s got a mobile phone, he calls
his wife. Etc. Keep it very factual. Don’t infer something from what is said or done. Keep it
factual.

Next, I want to know what’s driving the character in the scene? What do they want? Or
more specific, what do they want the other character or characters to do? Or more
specifically, as a verb, what do they want them to do? Never settle for understand, know,
see, realise, etc. Always dig deeper than this. When they understand, what will they do, as a
verb.  This creates a really strong understanding of what the whole scene is about for that
character. A helpful cheat is to imagine the perfect ending for the scene and how the other
character fits into that. 

So now you know what’s driving them. Let’s imagine the reality of the situation they find
themselves in. They might want the criminal to confess, but he’s pretending the murderer
was someone else. So that’s what we might call ’the reality’ or the ‘obstacle’ they face. 

Now imagine how they go about trying to get what they want, when confronted by this
reality. What tools or tactics do they use to achieve this goal?

Finally look at the journey through the scene, from where to where does the character travel
in the scene? From anger to sadness? From knowledge to loss? From hope to victory? This
will help you understand the journey YOU have to take when you represent that character
in the scene.