I read my last post over again. Then read it again – and realized it’s tough to be absolutely clear writing about something you’ve only talked about, some would say ad nauseum, for many years. The Emotional Memory conundrum is a good example.
I did caution the actor, didn’t I, to STAY AS FAR AWAY FROM THE TEXT AS POSSIBLE when looking for the emotional connection to a particular moment? I did do that, right? Yes, I think so. But it needs to be explained further. Clarified. So here’s the rest of the skinny, as they say. Although I’m not sure, exactly, who actually says that. No matter.
Let’s say, for example, you’re playing a serial killer in “Silence of the Iguanas" (I made that up, but you knew that). Well, try as you might, you will not find a serial killer experience lurking in your pure and blameless life. At least I hope not. But you can identify the motivating emotion behind the killer’s actions. And that’s the emotional definition you locate and go with. You locate that core emotion within yourself, but don’t try to create your own personal serial killer. And that, finally, is where the text comes in.
As you learn your lines and go through rehearsal, you continue to make the association between the text and the emotional impulse you discovered while working away from the text. They will join, trust me here, and become a single unit. In other words you feel the appropriate emotion and let the text do the serial killer part. So you can become a monster on stage from 8 to 11 every night, or every time the director calls “Action!” and walk away from the set unsullied, without having to be a serial killer while scarfing down a double cheeseburger at Wendys or ogling a cutie on the bus.
It works. It really does. And those of you who’ve been reading carefully will note that I said just a few moments ago: "As you learn your lines" . . . The dreaded “M” word, uggh it’s hard to write it – MEMORIZE . . .shudder, will never reach these scrambled pages. It should be stricken from the actors’ vocabulary. Or beaten out by a monkey with a baseball bat. More on that next time.
I always found that once I had my emotional journey (or "beats") more or less etched out, that the lines grew around them. If the words are rooted in something important, they will come on their own; it's amazing how fluently, with no sitting down and trying to learn and repeat the script by rote.
ReplyDeleteMark, you should also write about how actors (and directors) should IGNORE descriptive verbiage in scripts, such as:
DENNIS (angrily): I hate you.
or,
VICTORIA (suddenly rising from chair): No, thank you.
If these impulses or emotions don't work for your interpretation of the character, there's a reason -- they're someone else's interpretation of the character.
Or, maybe it's a given that this is included in your STAY AWAY FROM THE TEXT philosophy. :)
It must be said too that "mapping out beats" is also a process that needn't be carved in stone. I think it's a useful exercise to create a starting point, but as I recall, once the explorative work begins, this can all change...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. It's a starting point. As the rehearsal process carries on, beats WILL change.
ReplyDelete