To All Actors...

#1

To All Actors...

Posted: 10/20/05 at 11:31pm

When you're developing characters at the very start of a performance, what is usually your method? I'm a bit of a novice at the whole acting thing and I was pretty much just looking on different people's perspectives on it.

#2

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/20/05 at 11:32pm

Acting classes!

#3

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/20/05 at 11:34pm

No, I'm talking about like the very start of a play. What is your "method" for getting into character.

I usually just try to be in character all day or a few hours before the play but I don't think I'm doing nearly enough.

#4

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 12:06am

Cruel - are you talking about for an actual performance, or for the beginning of a rehearsal process?

Your little anecdote of your preparation reminds me of hearing about Olivier and Hoffman working together. After watching Hoffman go through this, that and the other thing to 'be ready for the scene', Olivier supposedly said to him, "Wouldn't it be simpler to just act?"

#5

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 12:22am

Live truthfully in the moment

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I got rid of my teeth at a young age because... I'm straight. Teeth are for gay people. That's why fairies come and get them

#6

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 1:50am

Read A Practical Handbook for the Actor--that's the technique I am studying.

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johnraymondbarker.com

#7

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 1:53am

"I usually just try to be in character all day or a few hours before the play"

This concept intrigues me. My characters only live on the stage - I wouldn't be very happy if they decided they wanted to participate in the experience of MY life.

#8

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:07am

" Act well your part; There, all the honor lies."

I had to do it.

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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." -- Author Unknown

#9

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:25am

I'm with DGrant on the issue of staying in character offstage. I don't believe in it--but if it's what works for you, then I respect that.

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johnraymondbarker.com

#10

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:39am

This is such a funny concept to me, I mean for Daniel Day Lewis, or Sir Ben Kingsley I can see no one saying anything, but imagine third girl from the right in 42nd street constantly acting that way, or "refidgerator repair guy" in a comercial. I would be afraid of overstepping the directors vision, and making an a$$ of myself as well.
I always limit my method to the time immediately surronding the performance. If it works better for you to do it longer, then more power to you, I actually wish I could try.

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I stand corrected, you are as vapid as they say.

#11

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 7:06am

I give my character a history so i get to know them. I try and give each role my own interpretation so that's another reason it helps! I don't think i could walk around all day in character... it would feel as if it were taking over reality and that can prove dangerous. I start on the way to the theatre... i don't have any music on in my car and just sort my head out and then warm up properly and off i go!

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Jesus Loves You... Everybody else thinks you're an idiot!

#12

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:00pm

I give my character a reason for coming onstage at THAT moment, even if one is already given. Something has to propel me on.

#13

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:04pm

broadway86, that's exactly what I used to do, when I was acting. Motivation for every single move I made, was important to me.

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ConvinceMe2 is dead. Long live BrendanStryker!

#14

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:07pm

I wonder if it might make more sense for film actors to "stay in character" all day, as they film scenes that have nothing to do with each other consecutively, and stop and start many times. There is not the time that theater actors have to warm up and be in the show from beginning to end.

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

#15

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:11pm

Rath - that, at least, makes some sense I guess.

I've always been intrigued by the craft of screen acting. Shooting scenes over a length of time, completely at the whim of whatever forces must be caterred to - and in whatever order is convenient - and have it try to add up to a coherrent whole. Quite a task, I'd say.

#16

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:16pm

I read the script, then get up and play. I work very much from instinct. I only really rely on technique when I get stuck.

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"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."

#17

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:17pm

Robbie - I would state the same thing, word for word.

#18

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:18pm

Me three.

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

#19

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:24pm

I spent four years in a pretty good theatre school, studying technique day and night. When I first got out of college, I tried to apply my 'technique', but realized very quickly that it was ingrained (sp???) in me. I didn't have to really think so much about the basics. My mind just went there.

There are days when I get stuck. And there are certainly situations in which I need to remember technique (mostly auditions, because they are so artificial in some ways...it's tough to do one's best work when a paycheck is being held just out of your grasp and you know you have to rush back to your desk job!).

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"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."

#20

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:39pm

I try to enter thinking something simple and physical--I don't do any kind of back story or history or research. Like, "I want to get laid."

#21

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:39pm

isn't that what we were talking about?

#22

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:41pm

lildogs, that was totally my motivation for Hodel.

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

#23

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:46pm

lol! I think sex could be a very common motivation for most all characters.

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johnraymondbarker.com

#24

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:46pm

I love character acting.

#25

re: To All Actors...

Posted: 10/21/05 at 2:52pm

I only start developing the backstory if I feel that I'm not working well enough from the script alone. Usually, though, I work like robbiej: read the play through and just get up and see what happens.

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"Peace! The charm's wound up." --Macbeth