Get beneath the words

The words are the surface level of human interaction. Like the iceberg, these are the bits that stick out of the water, while the rest, the real stuff of human connection and interaction lies beneath.

Our jobs as actors is not to control how we say the lines, but instead to get beneath the lines to the intent of the character and from there to the essence of the psychophysical action that we must perform.

Words are there to communicate meaning, they are anything but this. They are tools, weapons, tactics for manipulating, outmaneuvering… coercing, damaging, destroying… Whatever it takes to get what they want, on this topic Mamet says ‘we may or may not say what we mean, but we always say something designed to get what they want’.

So if we are to bring life to this character, we do so, not by getting under their skin (they have none), but through a detailed analysis of the biggest clue the writer can give us: the words.

When we understand a character’s intent, we understand what we must do in the scene. All other things are extraneous.

Speak the words of the character with something like their intent and voilà the illusion of character is created.