I've had sessions with several students this week, all of whom have the same problem. They now, at least, understand the importance of listening to the other actor so that response can be based on what's being said, implied or questioned. But all these new actors, listen globally and not specifically.
Let's say, for example, a passage of dialogue contains a half a dozen sentences. If you examine those lines, you might find 5 commas, a colon and 6 periods - give or take. The actor listening to that dialogue should understand his/her overall emotional response to the lines, of course. But the punctuation marks are a clue to shifts in the dialogue and should be examined as a stimulus for a shift in response.
Inexperienced actors, worrying about getting their own lines in on time, will respond with a lick and a promise at every other period - but they ignore the battalion of shifts available to them, as indicated by the shifts in their partner's dialogue.
What's interesting about this is that if actors listen and respond to every phrase, every nuance coming at them in the dialogue, they'll never have to worry about their own lines. They'll naturally slide into the pattern of the scene as nice as you please.
It's a fail-safe way to make sure you're in the moment and not in your head. After all, if you're focused outside yourself, on the words and behavior of someone else - you can't be thinking about yourself, can ya? That's what listening's about!
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