Yesterday I was invited to an informal reading of a new play. The host is a famous playwright. He had invited actors and a small audience to his artistic apartment.
The actors were sitting in chairs across from the audience, who were sitting on the couch. There were five actors and one of them was reading the remarks of the play. Each of the actors had the text of the play with underlined lines of the character he had to portrayed. Everyone was very focused on the text before the reading started.
My students: exercise in an interaction with a partner
Just in time, the reading of the play began. The actors, although reading their lines, managed to create vivid nuances of their characters. In the given circumstances of the roles, they communicated convincingly with each other, listened and evaluated the partner. The play, a poetic comedy, provided opportunities for interacting with the audience. The actors partnered convincingly with each other and sometimes sought contact with us, the audience.
The actors, sitting on the chairs, created lively, interesting and appealing characters.
We applauded, and after a short break for a glass of wine, we discussed the new play.
I asked the actors how long they had been rehearsing before reading. They replied, “We haven’t met, we haven’t rehearsed together!” The author sent the text to each one of them with the assigned characters. They prepared alone before the reading and here is the result!
Then I thought again about how important the preparation of the actor is, how important is the ability to communicate on stage, the ability to listen and understand what the partner is saying. What we say on stage is important, but even more important is what the partner is saying.
The acting technique I teach includes theory and many practices in mastering the process of communication between partners. It is a process with established steps that build acting qualities which makes the communication with the partner on stage more convincing.
My students: exercise in an interaction with a partner
Of course, here I give an example with a reading of a play. If we prepare a performance, we will do the appropriate number of rehearsals. We will start with a script analysis and we will build relationships and characters on stage.
In this case, I emphasize the qualities of the actors who had prepared at home and their ability to interact convincingly with each other, presenting a dramatic text.
Yours, Eva