Subtext in Acting

I am preparing to teach a technique class in 1/2 an hour, so thought I would share something of the topic.

Subtext.

It doesn’t really exist.

At RADA years ago, they did an exercise where the actors wrote the subtext next to each line of Chekhov.

Problem? Subtext is contextual. It is relative to the situation. By situation I do not mean between the characters, I mean between the actors. When you do the RADA exercise your brain is filling in the scene as if you are seeing it in your mind’s eye and making assumptions about the exchange.

The subtext, what we really mean when we say something (or don’t say something) is dependent upon what drives the character but more dependent on what happens between the actors.

Instead it’s about what we sense from the other person. The task I have in the scene determines what I mean. Intention determines everything.

Take this line:

GIRL: You don’t annoy me one bit.

Taken at face value, its meaning is evident. She is saying the person doesn’t annoy her.

But two voices combine in the performance of text, the voice of the writer with the inner voice of the actor. An unconscious duality affects the audience.

How do we determine what that line means? The contrast between what is said (the words uttered through the actor) and what we hear (the elements that filtering words through a human being adds). The actor’s part, the one that speaks through the lives can confirm or undermine the meaning of the lines, but it all comes down to the intention of the speaker.

Speaker. Not character.
Gleaned from our understanding of the role, yes, but in the end, from character.

When actors animate their lines to make them sound meaningful, they miss the depth that the duality brings. They deny bringing more to the line by trying to make the line sound ‘real’ or meaningful.

Most actors will comb the text for evidence of how that GIRL’s line should be spoken, they look to the imaginary world for context.

Context is the moment.
Subtext is the contrast of what is said and what is done.
The actor that explains the meaning of the line with how they say the line does nothing to add life to it, they simply take the words at face value and act them out.

COACH

Mark Westbrook is the founder of Acting Coach Scotland and currently directing 3 Sisters for Delirium Productions.