Acting Ideas

Posture

Why has posture ever been an issue? Why did your parents care? It’s the aesthetics. Good posture makes the body look better in space. Bad posture is a character choice; good posture is the benchmark. Why do you never see bad posture in dance? Because nobody wants to look at it. Cultural ideas of beauty and line are theatrical issues as well. It may not be politically correct, but it’s a fact. Good posture also has the virtue of being a prepared state. From its balance points, you can move quickly and efficiently in several directions. On a certain level, people go into the theatre to be looked at and, if we wish to be looked at, we must know how to provide the pleasures of balance and line. Good posture gives a sense of event and respects the audience; depart from it only to make a point. When you are poised, ready, proud, you create the basis for the confidence you need to hold stage. Study portraiture. Make us want to look at you.

Simplicity

The eternal question is always “can you do less and achieve the same effect.” The answer is “sometimes yes and sometimes no,” but you must ask the question. The aesthetic value of simplicity and austerity lies in focus (it’s easy to see one red dot on a black background), in clarity, and in the elegance of the perfect single gesture. Simplicity, if it still reveals and expresses the text, has explosive impact.

Mind/Body Connection

Don’t let the idea, the impulse, stop in your head. Get that idea expressed physically. My definition of talent has a lot to do with how much of the actor’s body responds to the character’s mind. In the good actor, the idea serves as an earthquake that shakes them to their toes. They don’t just say the line, they express the line through their nervous system. They remember an insult, and you can see it in their feet. The mind stimulates and the body reacts.

Bad Reviews

It’s going to happen—brace yourselves. I strongly suggest you wait at least three days before you read them at all. Most of us are too raw the day after. No matter how dismissive you are of the reviewer, they are going to hurt. Keep in mind the ordinary healing period is about a week. You won’t forever feel what you’re feeling fifteen minutes after you read them. As to never reading them, well, that strikes me as either too sensitive or a pretension. There are from time to time things said that you should pay attention to. As soon as you read the review, analyze to see if what it says about you is specific or general. If it merely calls you good or bad, dispose of it forever in the nearest receptacle. If it’s specific, put it away for another day or two and then decide if you need to take it seriously. It’s best never to talk about the reviews with another actor unless they bring it up first. Even if the reviewer is needlessly cruel and dead wrong, do not, I repeat, do not write them a letter. It is best to have a career unencumbered by feuds.

Comic Structure

The setup needs to be crisp, clear and fairly loud. Depending on the circumstance, the joke itself can be thrown away or nailed. Finally, the reaction (which may get us a second laugh) needs to be visible, appropriate to the moment, and in the clear. The above structure will be ruined if the focus is in the wrong place. Don’t be moving around (yes, anything has its exceptions) during the setup, don’t be looking away (yes, anything has its exceptions) while someone else delivers the joke, and don’t forget to give focus to the person doing the reaction to the joke.

Curtain Call

“The curtain call is not simply an acceptance of praise, it is a simple and touching sense of oneness between actor and audience.”