Guidelines for Actors Preparing Scenes

8/9/2019 Guidelines for Actors Preparing Scenes

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THEA 1023 Principles and Process in Scenework 1Winter 2007 M. Devine © 2007

Guidelines for Actors Preparing Scenes

Principles

1. Identify with your character.

Let’s be clear about this. You do not have to “love your character”. You don’teven have to like the person you are about to become. (How many of us love ourselves,or even like every aspect of ourselves?) But you must be in your character’s corner.

No one sees the world in the same way you do. Therefore your job is to make them

understand . Identifying with your character means seeing a valid justification for everysingle thing that character does. Any doubts come after , not during, the action.

Every actor thinks they do this, when in fact most actors continuously judge their

character. Middle class morals get in the way of a lot of actors. Middle class etiquettegets in the way, too, by inhibiting the force with which a character pursues intentions.

Then there’s the actor’s ego. “Why am I playing this character?” “This character’s aloser.” “The other role is bigger.” This results in a lot of half-hearted playing. The actor

thinks s/he is better than the character, and punishes the character, and anyone watching,by not committing their full energy to playing the role.

2. Don’t be predictable.

Remember, every character has unlimited potential. They grew up, like all of us,thinking they could do anything. Then the world closed in, limiting their choices; but they

still have that potential – as we all do. Bankers commit murder, mothers lift trucks to savetheir babies. And yes, in the middle of the most important scene in a character’s life,

maybe they have an overwhelming urge to scratch their nose. Why we react the way wedo, often inappropriately, is the doorway to the mystery and secret of our lives.

3. Don’t be smarter than your character.

This isn’t a matter of levels of intelligence. Sometimes the brightest people makethe simplest discoveries (“wow, I have toe fungus”). Nor is it strictly about naïveté. But

all characters must have the capacity to wonder, and, like us all, characters assumeanswers they don’t get, assume victories they don’t win, expect outcomes and are

shocked when their minds aren’t read by loved ones.

4. Life is full of obstacles. There are the obstacles you can identify in the scene – your loop partner not

giving you what you want, the situation not giving you what you want. That’s fine. Butdon’t stop there. What obstacles do you pose to yourself, as a character? Not all tactics

are rational. They’re often responses to the loop that work against the character’s over-allintention. That causes a chain reaction – a loss – that the character then must work even

harder to overcome.




5. Every character wants to be master of the circumstances they’re in. This is about wins and losses. It’s why characters never give up fighting. Why

they always find a way to hope, even against all reason. It’s pure, God-given, survival-driven ego. Every character has it, and every actor has to find it. Whatever your intention

is, it’s driven by will, that part of you that says you must watch me, you must listen to

what I say, you must change to suit me.

6. Every scene is a ball game.

The ball is dialogue (or a scene without words). You can’t play the game without

catching as well as throwing. You must treat your scene partner as part of a team, not asan adversary. You are making art together. Therefore you give that actor whatever you’ve

got, even if you don’t think you’re getting anything back. You do your prep and askquestions and if the ball keeps not coming back, you take over the game. The circle

closes and the other, non-contributing actor, is pushed off the stage.

In the ball game there are five important principles.

1. Keep the Ball in Play. At all costs.

2. Pick the Ball Up. When it drops, find the ball, pick it up. What else is there?

3. Keep It Simple. The simplest action is the most effective. It’s direct, it crosses to theother players efficiently, and it’s the easiest to repeat. It doesn’t mean taking the most

predictable choice; there are many direct alternatives for each beat.

4. Be Alive. Sometimes you can be the Hero, but that moment often passes because ofinattention. More often, your job is to be open, to be ready, to show readiness as a form

of support. Be alive every second; watch others, watch yourself. This may sound like notbeing in the moment. In fact it’s exactly being in the moment. It means responding with

what is needed in every moment, not just when you’re hitting the ball (or speaking).Remember: you are part of a scene, part of life on-stage, even when you’re not speaking

or initiating action. You are affecting its reality.

5. Never Give Up. Don’t ever, ever, stop trying, or hoping. People show their characterwhen all seems lost. So do actors. Fight, hope, hope, fight.

JOY, POWER, CONTROL. Does your scene have it?




Process

The First Rehearsal 1.5 - 3 hours.

Two things you should not be worrying about: props and costumes and physicalisation.

First of all, you don’t need anything to make a scene work, except two actors. Second,not all characters are busy, but actors love to create business. It helps them look busy,which means they are demonstrating activity, rather than being active.

Props are your friends. So are costumes. So is a set, even if it’s entirely imaginary. By

this I mean that a character has a relationship with each of these. With all of theserelationships vying for your attention, why would you bother with inventing needless

stage business? But in the first rehearsal you don’t need to concentrate on these, exceptto:

1. Come to rehearsal with a list of what you think is essential to make the scene work.

Your partner will, also, and the lists may be different. You then must negotiate what youthink you need. Always err on the side of economy. What can you mime effectively?

What can the spectator imagine through the text and the movement of the actors?

2. Define responsibilities.Who will get what, in terms of props and costumes, or set pieces. Who will book

rehearsal time. Agree on what reasonable notice for cancelling or postponing rehearsal,and what reasons are justifiable or not justifiable.

A scene is a contract. Two people agree to work together. This contract means there is

an agreement to show up on time, to come to rehearsal prepared, and to make every effortto collaborate in a working approach to the scene. Lateness, lack of preparation, or

insistence on a non-collaborative form of working are breaches of this contract. As in theprofessional industry, this breach leads to termination.

When an actor does not live up to their side of the contract, the other actor must first

attempt to resolve the situation by frankly but respectfully reminding that actor of his/her

obligations. If this does not work, an actor is obligated to notify me immediately. At thisstage the problem is assumed to be serious. If it proves not to be serious, the consequences

will be – for the first actor.

3. Read the scene. I recommend sitting on chairs, facing each other. You are not

characters yet. You are actors uncovering the work to be done in the scene. Don’t waste a

lot of time giving general observations about the scene. Chart your character’spunctuation and the subject matter of what they say. Observe when you speak, when youchoose not to speak, what triggers your responses.

4. Read the scene again. Continue to gain character information. Do I speak a lot? A

Little? Quickly/slowly, and why? The two actors should discuss what they share in thescene – place, situation, relationship. Don’t waste time fussing about whether it’s 4:31




pm. unless it makes an impact on what you do or how you act. But do agree on thingsthat will affect you in the scene. Be specific.

5. Ask questions. No actor likes to be directed by their scene partner, and it shouldn’t

happen. Instead, ask questions. Why does a character say this? What do they do

physically about it? How are you feeling about me here?6. Break the scene into blocks. Every scene can be broken down into working segments,usually delineated by major actions or changes in intention. These blocks consist of

several beats and from two to five minutes in length. These blocks will help define yourwork schedule in the following rehearsals. It’s a lot easier, for instance, to agree that in

the second rehearsal you’ll only work on Block 1.

7. Read Block 1. Do it slowly, face to face, pausing as much as you need to understandwhat you are saying and what your loop partner is saying.

Homework : Chart your tactics for Block 1 and make them legible enough to be read by

your partner. (This means making two copies – keep one for yourself.) Get off book forBlock 1. Make log entries on the rehearsal. Agree on next rehearsal time. Come in with a

question about your partner’s character – something you don’t know. It can be situation-based, text-based, or hypothetical. Useful.

Always end the rehearsal by thanking your partner.

The Second Rehearsal 2-3 hours

Warm-up physically together. Run your lines. Do not discuss your social lives.

1. Start to listen. Stand back to back, touching. Concentrate on listening and tying yourresponse to the previous line (the loop). Go through the text off-book. Feel free to pause

as much as you need to understand the text.

2. Chart your ins and outs. Standing, but without feeling forced to do anything physicalbeyond watching each other, go through the scene off-book. Search instinctively for

moments when you must make eye contact and those when you must not .

3. Chart your proxemics. Go through the scene again, standing. This time when theinstinct seems right, move closer to your loop partner, or retreat away. Each time your

loop partner moves closer or retreats avoid the tendency to respond predictably. Waituntil you speak your line (if you have one) and then move if it’s instinctive. This will feel

mechanical. Paradoxically, it will help avoid mechanical blocking responses in the scene,by helping you understand all the information available in a moment.

Some approaches you can take at this point:

a) forget the place and the situation. Just begin a pattern of movement. It can be a circle,or facing your partner and walking towards, and by them. Speak the text, looking for




instinctive times when you move closer or move away. Concentrate on responding toyour partners movement.

b) stand stationary, facing your partner from a maximum distance in the room.

Concentrate on maintaining contact with them – making them understand what you are

saying (what your intent is), and understanding what they are saying. This can berepeated.

c) perform b), but begin to slowly move towards your partner as you speak until you’reface to face at the end of the block. This can be repeated.

d) perform b) and c), but continue walking past each other after you have closed in on

each other. This can be repeated.

4. Scene geography. Together, create the playing space for the scene. Both partners mustwork together on this; both must justify their choices. Work for powerful minimalism –

only what’s essential. Remember, a scene’s geography defines not only what is there, butwhere. That means that each prop and set piece not only has a relationship to the

character you play, but to each other, too. Why is a table near a chair? How far? What isthe table used for, and is it used often? Realism is nice, but it’s a crutch. What’s much

more important than verisimilitude is the psychological reality of things. People placethings in certain spots for reasons that tell us a lot about them. There is a corresponding

reason not only for every item on a stage, but for its placement, too.

5. Place and Status. Whose space is it? How does each character respond to it, to eachpart of it? Indoors/outdoors? Public/private? Begin to place yourselves in the scene

setting.

6. Just Sit There. Do not go about “blocking” the scene at this point. Find a spot in thesetting and just sit or stand there. Observe what’s in the room, things that you may not

have discussed – pictures on the walls, pigeons in a park, a carpet, whether things are oldor new, clean or dirty. Look around. Ignore your partner. This is for you. Do it for several

minutes. Silently. People who report on everything they see have no interior life.Discuss your observations with your partner after a set time has elapsed.

Negotiate what imaginary elements are in the room, focusing on the things either actorcan make use of, in character terms. Make a note of these items, and draw a lay-out to

confirm their placement.

7. Begin to Speak. Without “blocking”, go through Block 1, in the space. You can do thistwo ways: by being somewhere in the space but not moving, simply taking in all the

elements that have some effect on you; or by wandering. Wandering is dangerous, but itcan be useful here, in that you come closer to various objects and things (including the

other character, but don’t just focus on that). In this way they can have greater or lessersignificance depending on the moment. You can find out, for instance, the varying height

of things: this is almost always overlooked by actors.




DO NOT move “appropriately”, working out some kind of high-school/communitytheatre I-do-this-you-do-this blocking. Just get to know the space. Feel like your

character is on a tour. Take notes when you’re finished. This is information that you donot have to reveal to your partner – it’s part of your arsenal, the mystery of a character.

Homework : Hand over your tactics for Block 1 to your partner. Look at their tactics andcompare them to your own to see if there are discoveries to be made. Chart your tacticsfor Block 2. Get off-book for Block 2. Make a log entry on the rehearsal. Agree on next

rehearsal time. Agree on what scenic elements will be brought to the next rehearsal.Create a useful question for your partner’s character.

The first two rehearsals should be exhausting. If an actor does not do all the work necessary

in these rehearsals, their work will fall hopelessly behind. If this is observed when the first

block is presented, the scene roles may be reassigned or the scene cancelled.

Things you can do on your own between rehearsals

1. Sense memory. Lie in a neutral position on a mat with your eyes closed. There are

many variations you can try, but you should do one each session. Writing down your goalbeforehand is a good idea to retain focus.

Some examples:

a) Imagine your character walking down a street. Watch them carefully. Observe how

they move, what they react to. Is it a confident walk, an injured walk?

b) Put your character in different situations outside the play – at school, in an office,

buying groceries, at an interview. How do they respond to stress, to others? What do they

find funny? How do they act physically in trying to affect others?

c) Put your character in situations not directly from the play, but related to the play. If a

character is a soldier, put them in battle. If a character is a housewife, imagine herfriends, who she confides to, where, and how.

d) To develop a sense of your character’s past, take them into past history situations using

whatever information you glean from the text about their background. Don’t just imaginethe people, imagine the sights, sounds, and smells that would influence a young child in

ways that might affect their behaviour later in life.

2. Observational Research. When you feel you have a working knowledge of yourcharacter, define him/her by categories of comparison. Of course these are general

categories a character may break out of in times of great need, but this will help you feelwhat “type” this person is. Then go out and look for people who fit some of the elements

you have written down. Look for their mannerisms, their tics, not just in how they moveor respond, but in the cadence of their speech or their pronunciation.




3. Text History. Research the period of the play, if it doesn’t take place in the near-present. Why did people do what they did? What were the basic status levels? What did

people believe in? What were their preoccupations? What were their values? Make themyours.

The Third Rehearsal 2-3 hours

Warm-up. During the warm-up you can socialize. Run lines for Block 2, then for Block

1 & 2 together. Running lines means you’ve begun to work. Don’t socialize.

1. Repeat steps 1-3 for Block 2. You should also consider utilizing step 7. In fact, use anyexercise you find helpful. DO NOT GO RIGHT TO PHYSICALISING BLOCK 1 & 2.

2. Physicalize Block 1. After a break from Block 2 work, go back to Block 1. Set up the

physical elements of the scene. Very slowly – without any attempt to do the work “atspeed”, go beat to beat through Block 1. Stop only when you or your partner has a

question or when something feels unmotivated. But don’t provide a play by play, i.e.,“I’ll-move-here-now-you-move-there”. When you’ve worked through the scene, run it

without stopping. Afterward, take notes and ask each other questions.

There is one exception to this dictum: if an actor at this stage is clearly not living up to their

responsibilities, the other actor has the right, in fact the obligation, to push the other actor

wherever the first actor wants the second actor to go.

3. Physicalize Block 2. Again, work beat by beat to make sure each action is properlymotivated. When you’re finished, run the block. Take notes (“flags”) and ask questions.

4. Physicalize Blocks 1 & 2. Run the two blocks together. Stop wherever you need to, to

stay on track.

Homework : Give your tactics for block 2 to your partner. Compare their tactics in theblock to your own and make adjustments or make notes on their tactics to be discussed

over the phone (not at the next rehearsal!). Get off book for Block 3. Chart your tacticsfor Block 3.




Subsequent Rehearsals

Rehearsals should be as regular as possible, to keep the momentum and establish an

atmosphere of trust and dependability.

Preparing a full scene should take at least six rehearsals, or twelve hours of concentratedwork, as a basic working minimum (probably more). That doesn’t count work an actor

does apart from rehearsal.

Classwork will seldom involve presentation of a full scene, but rather the block work.

Each block of text is treated in the same manner as those which came before. Things cango faster, now that you’ve established the setting and your position within it. So you may

work within the world of the play continually. However, it is always useful to step out ofthe world to ensure your work is specific – to do in and out work, proxemics, or simply to

slow down and go moment to moment, trying to understand the text and what the loop isdoing to you.

It is also critical that you keep to a process-based routine. Keep warming up, keep

running lines in blocks, then linking the blocks. Keep working the next block andestablishing the groundwork for it before going back and physically linking it with the

previous block. When you have Block 3 grounded, for example, then you can go backand link the first three blocks. But first you should physicalize it and see if there are

questions. Keep your log entries up to date – write them after rehearsal, not at the end ofthe process. They don’t have to be long, but they have to be accurate.

Resist the urge to “warm-up” by running the entire scene on its feet. This is an invitation

to general playing.

Resist the temptation to skip ahead and do huge swaths of text in a rehearsal. This alsoleads to general work.

You have to get bored sick of a scene, and of a character, before you can fall in love with it

all over again.

Never be afraid to work outside the physical environment of the play. The setting can be

a trap, like so many other familiar elements in acting. Often actors don’t realise they’vestopped living while working in a set environment, because they’ve been focused on so

many other aspects of their research. Stepping outside for various exercises can help anactor get back on track. If your partner requests this, it can only do you good.

Guidelines for Actors Preparing Scenes

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