Understanding the Scene

No one understands a scene intuitively. Anyone who picks up a script and starts acting is basing their decisions on quick improvisational based on the words written.

If you ask actors, most struggle with understanding the text the most. Most have been baffled by the text analysis elements of their training.

And so they rely on guesses made on what is said.

But we cannot trust what characters say. They speak out of a desire to get something. Often they do not say what they mean. Sometimes they say something designed to satisfy the moment that doesn’t connect to their underlying need.

But if you don’t understand the scene, you cannot act it, you are just making stuff up and hoping that it makes sense. You take the words at face value.

Many actors believe they understand the scene, but they only understand it in the most superficial way, a scene is rarely about what’s written in the words and taking it at superficial value level will lead to a superficial performance.

So the actor must learn to truly understand the scene, and it isn’t easy…

There are three levels of understanding.

Authorial: on an essential level, what is the essence of the scene? What essential dramatic conflict has the author used as the building blocks of the scene.

Character: why is the character in the scene. What do they want the other character to do, as a result of their actions. And for what reason?

You: how would I go about doing that? What’s that like to me? What tactics would I use to achieve a goal like that in my real world interaction with the other actors.

Any attempt to divert your attention with discussion of theme and epoch is a way of avoiding the most difficult job of the actor, to truly understand the scene.

Discussion of character is similar, it is little more than an attempt to put off the inevitable, that when it comes to script, it’s sink or swim. You either get it or you do not. And discussion of character, which is in effect, a filler activity, may help as a placebo, but cannot help you act the scene, only understanding can help with that.