Acting "big" onstage

I've always wondered, when acting onstage I've been told to act "bigger" on order to project the character to the audience. How does one act "bigger" while still trying to be subtle and keep it natural?

This is another one of my acting tips please, threads. Any help would be appreciated. :)

I've pondered this as well, but I think it just means make your actions bigger. When you're acting in a 3,000 seat theater, the back row may not be able to see your subtle gestures, so you need to make them larger; however, I don't think you have to make them so large and grand that you seem like you're overacting. It's a fine balance, but it just comes with experience and practice.

...sorry, I guess that didn't really help...

I've always been told that acting "big" is taking the emotions you see in movies and multiplying them by 10.

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we shouldn't be thinking about our actions on the stage. i believe that's for rehearsal time so that it comes naturally in performance.

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from a directorial stand point, whether it feels natural or not, always be bigger (which by the way, doesnt mean screaming or over exaggerating inflections, etc). its easier for me to tone you down, then to keep bringing you up.

think of this scenerio:

your character is talking to someone and the other person says something rude. Suppose your character would naturally scrunch her nose, narrow her eyes, and scoff. That's probably what you would do on screen, or real life. On stage, you would have to make that bigger for the audience. So your character choice would be to turn your head away, scoff audibly open-mouthed and then scrunch up your face whilst crossing your arms. Something like that. You're not overacting, you're just making your reaction bigger. Overacting would be to wave your arms, go "UUGGHGGHHHH GAWD!!!!" and stomp your feet. lol. which of course, could work for some characters haha.

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I believe that quote was from Sanford Meisner. One point for me!

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