by bonzee

Created on: May 23, 2008

Acting... If 'all the world's a stage and all men and women are merely players', we should all be naturals. That, we are.. But where is the difference? To me, it is the way you are wired and the character that you choose to portray. Certainly, there is nothing that cannot be mastered by learning and hard work. But in acting, there are things that are always more suited to you than others. This, I think stems from the person that you are; the values that you believe in and the emotions that you hold. To do justice to any character, you need to be able to first understand in entirety the creation of that character. This is to give a best shot at being that character. Once you know who that person was, you can invent your details into it. This is, in essence to say, you can do things that person never did, but your emotions and reactions to events would be what the character's is supposed to be; you would believe in what that character is supposed to believe in. If you are comfortable in wearing his/her shoes, you go ahead; else you do not.

That said, it sounds as easy as reading a script and trying to understand a character. Behold! It is not just that. If all of us could read a script and understand a person, there would be less worries in the world. So, it boils down to who you really can understand, and who you are really comfortable being. Never ignore these rules of thumb; for, in choosing a part that you do not understand and are not comfortable being, you are sitting for an examination in a language that you have never heard of. That is a recipe for a miserable failure! If one chooses to play characters based on these criteria, every portrayal would come across as a stellar performance. After all, it is about being and living the character for the length of the play!Once you can do this, the dialogs are secondary, and they would come to you naturally.

The only other important thing is connecting with your audience. Do not think that your audience is inspecting your part to find faults. That would get you nervous. Instead, go with the attitude that you are unfolding the character that you are, in front of their eyes, that you are reading them the story and that they have never heard it before. When you have this in mind, you would make every effort to get the character across to them, like teaching a child how to walk. Such a gentle and passionate attitude towards your audience helps them understand you and understand the character that you play.

To summarize, acting is all about your appreciation of the part that you play and walking your audience through it.

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