Working on the Scene

The largest unit that the actor should concern themselves with is the scene. In performance this is shortened to the moment. The moment is now, never repeatable, relates neither to the past or the future and once observed, it is gone. Learn to focus your attention on the correct unit at the right time.

Between these points, there are the beats (or the bits or beads, depending how thick Stanislavski’s accent was). These are usually marked by a major change to the scene, sometimes referred to as units, although traditionally a string of beads makes up a unit.

In each scene, there is a strong compelling drive, a purpose driven by a want or desire that burns within the character. It does not matter what their overall super objective is. The scene should reveal all the needs to know about playing the scene, of course this doesn’t mean that we ignore the antecedent events of the play, but the actor cannot play a superobjective – only bear it in mind whilst working on the scene in rehearsal.

Once the curtain goes up or the camera starts to roll, only what sticks in your head from rehearsals and the immediate concerns of the moment matter.