#34: Up A Tone
Thursday 8/15/24
ACTING TIP
I came across a video last night of Uta Hagen teaching a class. The entire spliced video was of her teaching various classes but relaying the same info/concept.
Acting is doing.
Acting is DOING.
It is actually void of emotion.
I’ve talked about this before but it’s one of the most critical components to certain acting methods. Please remember there are many methods and schools of thought. This is simply what I use and coach.
Things i am uninterested in:
Backstory (it’s a no for me)
Emotion/asking about how you feel/how the character feels
Backstory is typically defined as thoughts and ideas an actor has about the characters past before the play begins. Now, i’m not talking about assumptions you can make based on actual things that are said during they play. Right? If it is stated in the text that a character grew up in a conservative home but went to college and changed all her world views…. Then I can make some “assumptions” about the kinds of things that were discussed in that household. That’s HISTORY as provided in the text PLUS assumptions I can make with context clues. This isn’t backstory.
Backstory is me taking the clues from the script and inventing a life for a character that is my own creation. That may be useful for some, but if you are sitting around writing a 5 page paper, that sounds like a school assignment and not anything that is useful on stage. Now, others may disagree, and thats fine, but if it doesn’t show up in the performance it is a waste. I’d rather you take the Susan Egan seeing the set for Beauty and The Beast for the first time and walking through the front door 100 times.
In terms of emotion - what do you do when you are confused? You’ve heard me talk about this also as “what do you do when you are cold”.
What do you do when you are confused? Do you try to act confused? What about in your real life? Do you just “be confused” or do you try to understand? Unless you are being willfully obtuse in real life, you are trying to understand. And, I’d even argue that being willfully obtuse is still a choice and an action. You probably benefit from “not getting it”.
As an actor or as a coach, when someone says or when you think “i’m confused’ or “i’m angry” or “i’m happy” or “i’m upset” - i want you to think about what you do when you feel that. What is the opposite?
Some ideas:
Confused = i want to understand
Angry = i want to make calm, i want to agitate, i want to incite
Happy = i want to charm, i want to please
Upset = i want to mend, i want to unburden
Try it out in your scene, monologue, or song!
Dreams Don’t Die
Julie