A Lesson That ALL Actors MUST LEARN

hatever school or methodology of acting you belong to, there is one lesson that must be learned by all actors if they wish to be successful. Yesterday, I was working with a friend of mine, an actress who is an associate at the NTS. We were working on a scene she is preparing for a performance at the Arches Theatre in Glasgow. Within just a few minutes, we had identified a serious blockage for her, her understanding of some aspects of the play was preventing her natural skills, her spontaneous creativity, her intellect and instincts from being able to do what she can do only too well.

Understanding the play. These words for many years were a pain to me. I simply could not understand ‘how to understand’ the play. No one had taught me the basic analytical tools necessary to do this task. I’m not talking about some kind of academic understanding, involving the themes and motifs of the playwright, these are all abstract from the job of the actor. We’re talking about gaining an understanding of the play so that the understanding can be translated from page to stage. Without these analytical tools, all of the actor’s natural gifts and predisposition for performance go wasted. Why? Because they are improvising their understanding of the play. Time and time again, I speak with actors that have based their entire performance on, well, for want of a better word BULLSHIT. They DO NOT UNDERSTAND the play in TANGIBLE terms. I have written on this topic many times, even explaining this before, but it’s worth expressing it again, differently.

The great SECRET is, that none of this is brain surgery or rocket science, or whatever people say. Instead, it requires an open mind and few liberating questions, questions that will open up the actor’s understanding of the play. Yes, it may take some time, it may even be a difficult task, requiring a bit of mental sweat, but once the understanding becomes clear, then it’s entirely worth it.

This lesson is written to explain how you would approach using analytical tools to approach a one person show. These are the first steps that I would take (after reading the play many times to familiarise myself) to understand the play.

First STEP, very simple ASK – WHO IS YOUR CHARACTER SPEAKING TO? God, The Audience? An Audience (In the Play), Themselves, Another Character (Present), Another Character (Not Present) – there are many more. By acquiring a target, you can begin to understand how you will behave towards them.  It may be worth asking ‘what is the relationship type’ if it is another character, in other words, are they the character’s friend, lover, child, parent, employee, employer, etc. This again will help you to understand how you will need to shape your behaviour.

THEN ASK WHY? Why is your character speaking? This gives the character a reason to be there.

Next ASK – What is the character’s UNDERLYING NEED? This is what is driving the character throughout the entire play. What is their DRIVING need, what pushes them through the play. What is it that they WANT? An Underlying Need can be MANY THINGS, it’s worth checking out this link to help you. Spend some REAL time trying to work this one out, what is that they spent every scene aiming to GET? It can be very simply worded. Perhaps even one word:  SURVIVAL, PRESERVATION, HOPE, LOVE, SEX….   Once you have a strong understanding

Next MAKE A LIST of the ALL THE CONFLICTS, ALL THE BARRIERS that the character must overcome in order to achieve their NEED in the play. Go through the play and each time they are challenged by a conflict make a list of them, most of them can be expressed in a single word or three.  Then write next to them what the character does to overcome them. Work your way through the play as you do this, understanding how the playwright has constructed the play. When you have a list of conflicts and how the character attempts to negotiate the conflicts THEN

ASK – How does the dramatic journey CHANGE the character? Here you will establish for yourself that there IS a dramatic journey that your character goes on.  Where do they begin and where they end?

If you ask these questions and you sit down and spend the time answering them based on the play, you will find yourself connecting to the material of the script.

The actor’s job is to act, to put these things into action, but this is the first step to truly connecting to the material of the play. If you director cannot, will not do this with you, then you need to do it for yourself.