Not Engaging with Tactics

Exir asked about what to do when his actors weren’t engaging with the tactics. Tactic disengagement occurs for many reasons. I too teach no right and wrong when it comes to tactic choices but there are some successful choices and some not so successful choices. Vulnerability comes in choosing tactics that take the actor out of their comfort zone, not purposefully, because that feels manipulative, but by necessity. When an actor feels uncomfortable with certain tactics, they tend to under or over commit to them. This should be very obvious to you the director, and you should gently ease them towards playing it truthfully.

Disengagement also occurs when using tactics that aren’t actually tactics such as ‘apologise’, which isn’t an ACTive tactic. (It doesn’t fit between I and You, so it can’t be done). Disengagement also occurs when the actor doesn’t understand the tactic, literally the meaning OR don’t know how to do it to someone else. Importantly, the actor must attempt to use the tactic on the other actors in the scene, this is always the true test of any tactic.