Act Like No One is Watching

One of the things that I love about working on my current show, is that the actors already understand a very important factor in what makes good acting.

They don’t act.

Not at all.

They just live truthfully on the stage.

That’s not what I see elsewhere. When I go to the theatre, generally I see actors who have been directed to project to the audience in a way that insults the intelligence of the audience, and the actor’s ability.

When we act, we should act like no one is watching. Forget that they are there altogether. Yes, I know that you need to speak up and cheat out but that’s all you need to do for the audience. You do not need to project your performance at them, as if they are idiots in need of your paint-by-numbers performance to help them understand the play.

Whenever I am acted at I feel sickened, cheated, like the actor is being forced to cheapen my experience by a director who doesn’t trust me to understand what’s happening.

Let me be clear, I do not blame the actor. I blame a culture of treating the audience like an idiot. The actor is simply part of that culture.

But it doesn’t need to be like that. Simply act like no one is watching, don’t play out to them, don’t demonstrate your character, or what they’re thinking or feeling, trust us to get it from you.

Unfortunately, so ingrained is this presentational form of working that actors don’t know that they are doing it. Resist it. Your challenge is not in presenting anything to the audience, but playing your part in the telling of a story, let the audience play their part too.

If you want to learn how… get in touch.