7 Dramatic Action

#7 Dramatic Action

In Shakespeare, the sound and meaning of the words is inseparable from the action. When we say action in the theater we are talking about Dramatic Action, and we mean your character’s pursuit of a goal with another character. In other words, it’s what you are doing to get what you want from the other person. Action in theater does not mean physical activity (like running) or business, though both of these may help you play your action. The inherent conflict in drama lies between the conflicting wants of the characters on stage. Drama is conflict.

1. Key questions: What do I want to get from this person, or what do I want to make this other person do? Here’s Caliban trying to get Stephano to make Trinculo stop insulting him.

CALIBAN: Lo, how he mocks me! Wilt thou let him, my lord? TRINCULO: “Lord,” quoth he? That a monster should be such a natural! CALIBAN: Lo, lo again! Bite him to death, I prithee.

2. Know what you want every second you are on stage. Know from whom you want it.

3. This want always has to do with the other person onstage. If you didn’t want something from someone on stage with you, you wouldn’t be there, and you wouldn’t be speaking. If there is more than one person on stage, you will want something different from each one and have a separate action on each.

4. In soliloquies, you want something from the audience. What does the Chorus want to get the audience to do in the opening of Henry V?

CHORUS: O, for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention: A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

5. Antithesis played between two characters is dramatic action in language. Remember the scene between Richard III and Lady Anne. Richard tries to win by using Anne’s words against her, and vice-versa.

6. The sound is the action. Here, Miranda’s action is to diminish her father’s distrust of Ferdinand. Hear how all the “l’s” and short “i’s” help her do this.

MIRANDA: There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple. If the ill spirit have so fair a house, Good things will strive to dwell with’t.

7. What makes a good action? Here are some hints from A Practical Handbook for Actors to create strong actions for yourself. A good action must:

a. Be physically capable of being done. (Pleading for help vs. pursuing the American dream.) b. Be fun to do. (What gets you going? Be confrontational. Pick something tangible, something you can sink your teeth into.) c. Be specific. (extracting a crucial answer vs. finding something out) d. Have its test in the other person. (Your partner is usually your obstacle. You are trying to get something from him or her.) e. Not be an errand. (You must be able to fail at your action.) f. Not presuppose any physical or emotional state. (Letting Harry know how mad I am vs. putting Harry in his place. Play objectives not emotions.) g. Not be manipulative. (Don’t plan the result.) h. Have a cap. (A verbal or visual sign that you’ve won your action.)

8. Stakes: What is at stake in each scene? (What will you win or lose?) 9. Urgency: Why must you perform this action NOW?