One of my students recently asked how to determine which behaviors to use in your performance from all the ones you experience while rehearsing the scene.
The first step in preparing a performance to allow yourself to experience as many of the possible responses to a scene as you can. (It is destructive to be too concerned about the end result, especially in the early rehearsal stages of the process, because your performance will then become logical, predictable, and barely scratch the surface of what each of the “characters” in the scene is going through emotionally.)
When you give yourself total emotional freedom, your performance of a scene will often evolve naturally to your unique performance of the scene that serves the scene. If that doesn’t happen, you can choose which way you feel is the best way for you to do the scene.
BUT… you always want to leave the door open to have surprising and new experiences with each scene, every time you do it. That’s a little scary, but it’s what the best actors do.
Anthony Hopkins says that the only thing he does now to prepare for work is to keep reading the script over and over. In other words, he trusts himself completely to discover his performance instinctively as he rehearses and films the scene on the set.
I hope this is helpful to you.
Best wishes,
David Kagen
David Kagen’s School of Film Acting
(818) 752-9678
www.davidkagen.com
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