Tips for Actors
Directors say all the time to "keep
in character." What this means to keep acting, to behave
as your character no matter what the situation.
If you drop a line, miss a cue, or even if
a prop or piece of scenery breaks, you're supposed to behave
as if it was supposed to happen. Or, at the least, react naturally
to it.
The audience is at the performance to escape
the world for a while. To be taken into a story. To live with
a set of characters and experience their laughs, their cries,
their highs and their lows. Although you're on stage right
in front of them, people willingly believe the world that
you've created.
An audience will believe anything you present
them, as long as you adhere to the rules you set at the beginning
of your performance. How do you maintain the illusion and
"stay in character?".
Pay attention to what's happening on stage.
Don't let your mind wander and be distracted by the hot lights
or the coughing pest in the third row. Stay in the moment.
Stay connected to your scene. If you've prepared well, your
objective and your intention will be clear, you know what
you're doing and why you're doing it. Stay focused on these
and the scene will play out naturally.
Live with the unexpected. Suppose you're entering through
a door. You open the door and the knob falls off into your
hand. You see it. The audience sees it. You can either ignore
it, or simply acknowledge it and move on. Just acknowledge
it casually and move on. The same goes for missed lines or
cues. The audience won't know anything went wrong unless you
do something to let them know there was a mistake.
Pay attention, prepare, live with the unexpected and your
audience will love your brilliant performance
Acting: The First Six Lessons. (Theatre Arts Book) These
six lessons are set as six acts of a drama to present the
skills and tools of the classically trained actor. Concentration,
Memory of Emotion, Dramatic Action, Characterisation, Observation
and Rhythm. In each chapter, Boleslavsky demonstrates how
these tools are applied through the three basic aspects of
the actors craft: Emotion, Intellect, and Body.
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