For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.
As we enter the last two weeks of the Spring Term, we have started working again on text. It is amazing how having the words you need to use with your partner given to you makes actually listening to what they have to say (and really saying what it is you have to say) so difficult.
Again and again, we come back to this: The contact with your partner is the most important thing. It is more important than the lines you have to say. It is more important than any accent or external characterization that you have thought up. It is far more important than how you think the scene „should“ go. The contact with your partner, which you get from really putting your attention on him or her, really listening to what they say and how they say it, really picking up on their behavior even at its most subtle, will allow you to take the pressure off of how you’re saying the words.
With a script that is even remotely well written, when actors simply listen to each other and respond instinctively to each other, the scene comes alive. When we let that be at the foundation of the scene, then we always have a core truth to fall back on. Then on top of that core truth we can add all the bells and whistles which move the actors from a simple doing of the script to really performing it.
But without the foundation, the scene feels flat. It feels like work. It misfires and sputters like an engine that’s out of tune. It doesn’t feel like fun, like you’re on a roller coaster. It might even be boring to you to go through it!
So actors, when doing a scene (and there is a large portion of work that is technical and requires your intellect as well as your intuition that happens before you „do“ the scene), forget about everything else but listening to your partner. They will give you everything you need!