Who are you in Rehearsals?
My experience of rehearsals is that actors tend to fall into various categories in their behaviour. Sometimes an actor is a completely different person in rehearsal from the person they are in life. Some turn from lovely to living nightmare, and others pleasantly, vice-versa. Of course this is a generalisation, but I hope that by identifying any problems you may have, you may use it to improve your professionalism and your profession.
THE CREATIVE is probably more at home ‘devising’ than with a script. They ignore the script because they want to create, unfortunately, it has precious to do with the script.
THE OLD SOLDIER has worked with everyone from Johnny and Larry to Joan. Every piece of direction is met with an anecdote.
THE BAD METHOD ACTOR never really trained in any method, but holds onto some generalisations about living the role or becoming the part. Most real method actors would turn pale and die at what this Ham thinks is Method acting. They wander around in the character’s shoes, trying to find the part. They struggle to bring the script to life because they’re too concerned with themselves.
THE REPLACEMENT DIRECTOR believes the director isn’t up to the job. They take every opportunity to resist the director and any direction that they offer. They often let their fellow cast mates what they think of the director, and undermine the directors every turn.
THE REPLACEMENT WRITER believes the script is rubbish and could have easily done a better job and let everyone know about it. They always making small suggestions about how to change the script to improve it. They actively ‘struggle’ with lines that they don’t like in order to pressure the director into looking for a re-write. They’re not afraid to tell others how little respect you have for the script either.
PRIMA DONNA knows it’s all about them, it’s always been about you love, yes it is. Regardless of whether they have the lead role or not, they dominate the time of the director, relating everything back to themselves time and time again.
THE TALKER - (Many directors suffer from this too) likes to talk, often very intelligent and very interesting, but it means they don’t have to take any action, which is sort of in the job description. But they like the sound of their own voice a little too much and often respond to direction with a long spiel that’s somewhat related to the topic.
THE YES-BUT can’t direction, can’t take criticism or feedback. They’ve got a reason OR excuse for everything. They respond to every single piece of direction with a reason for why they are currently doing what they can do, but they struggle to take direction or know how to deal with it.
THE GRAFTER puts their head down and get on with the job, but you don’t offer much in terms of choices.
THE AMNESIAC can’t remember their lines, ever. You only work with them once, cos you’ll never cast them again, ever. From my experience, they barely tried to learn their lines. They often spend their time in rehearsals trying to paraphrase the lines, which means they don’t learn them through doing. Instead, the last days of rehearsal are stressful and painful because the actor is forced to learn the lines against their will.
THE PROBLEM CHILD always has a problem, personal or professional, never able to get on with anything and has an excuse for everything, long, deep seat and troubling.
If you see yourself here, try to make a difference. You will have a much more successful rehearsal time, and hopefully, a better production.
To you, the best
-Mark-