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Chapter 4: Acting 096-157 CH04-861627 12/4/03 12:01 AM Page 96 CHAPTER ᪴ ᪴ ᪴ ᪴ ᪴ ᪴ ᪴ ᪴ ᪴ ᪴ 4 Acting No role is too small. In this scene from Julius Caesar, the varied responses of the crowd members to Caesar’s death give the scene more depth. One can see Mark Antony, played by Al Pacino, judging the crowd’s mood and planning how to manipulate it. cting is a question of absorbing other Apeople’s personalities and adding some of our own experience. —PAUL NEWMAN, ACTOR 96 096-157 CH04-861627 12/4/03 12:02 AM Page 97 SETTING THE SCENE Focus Questions What special terminology is used in acting? What are the different types of roles? How do you create a character? What does it mean to act? Vocabulary emotional or straight parts master gesture subjective acting character parts inflection technical or objective acting characterization subtext leading roles primary source substitution protagonist secondary sources improvisation antagonist body language paraphrasing supporting roles So now you’re ready to act! For most students of drama, this is the moment you have been waiting for. You probably share the dream of every actor to create a role so convincing that the audience totally accepts your character as real, for- getting that you are only an actor playing a part. You must work hard to be an effective actor, but acting should never be so real that the audience loses the theatrical illu- sion of reality. Theater is not life, and acting is not life. Both are illusions that are larger than life. If both theater and acting are too real, the illusion is destroyed and replaced by what is normal. Onstage, the normal can be boring. 096-157 CH04-861627 12/4/03 12:02 AM Page 98 Restraint can some- times be the best method for conveying strong emotion. Notice how John Malkovich in True West uses his arms, back, and facial expression to create a sense of restraint. ᪴ Shakespeare’s Advice to Actors Some classic lessons in dramatic art come from one of the world’s most famous actor-dramatists, William Shakespeare. They were given as advice to actors in Act III, Scene 2, of Hamlet. IN SHAKESPEARE’S WORDS IN MODERN WORDS Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced Speak the lines of the author as written, dis- it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you tinctly and fluently, with an understanding mouth it, as many of your players do, I had of their meaning. as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, Do not use elaborate and artificial gestures. thus, but use all gently; for in the very tor- Keep energy in reserve in order to build to an rent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirl- emotional climax smoothly and effectively. wind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robus- Do not resort to farfetched action or noise tious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to simply to please unintelligent and unappre- tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the ciative onlookers. groundlings, who for the most part are capa- ble of nothing but inexplicable dumb-shows and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o’erdoing Termagant; it out- herods Herod: pray you, avoid it. 98 ᪴ Interpreting the Drama 096-157 CH04-861627 12/4/03 12:02 AM Page 99 ᪴ The Special Language of Acting Very early in the rehearsal process, you will also begin hearing a number of theater expressions. To work comfortably and efficiently onstage, you must become familiar with these expressions. Those most often used in connection with acting are listed and defined in the following chart. ad-lib to improvise stage business or conversation at rise who and what are onstage when the curtain opens back or backstage the area behind the set or that part of the stage that is not visible to the audience, including dressing rooms, shops, and offices bit part an acting role with very few lines blocking yourself getting behind furniture or other actors so that you cannot be seen by the audience building a scene using dramatic devices, such as increased tempo, volume, and emphasis, to bring a scene to a climax business any specific action (other than changing location) performed on the stage, such as picking up a book or turning on a televi- sion set C the symbol used to identify the center of the stage countercross a movement in a direction opposite to a cross to balance the stage picture cover to obstruct the view of the audience; use of ad-lib to cover an unexpected, unwanted event during a performance cross the movement by an actor from one location onstage to another cue the last words, action, or technical effect that immediately pre- cedes any line or business; a stage signal curtain the curtain or drapery that shuts off the stage from the audi- ence; when written in all capital letters in a script, it indi- cates that the curtain is to be closed cut to stop action; to omit cut in to break into the speech of another character down or downstage the part of the stage toward the audience dressing the stage as a technical term, placing furnishings, pictures, and similar items to complete and balance a set; keeping the stage pic- ture balanced during the action enter to move onto the stage exit or exeunt to leave the stage feeding giving lines and action in such a way that another actor can make a point or get a laugh Acting ᪴ 99 096-157 CH04-861627 12/4/03 12:03 AM Page 100 foil an acting role that is used for personality comparison, usually with the main character hand props items (properties) such as tools, weapons, or luggage carried onstage by an individual player hit to emphasize a word or line with extra force holding for laughs waiting for the audience to quiet down after a funny line or scene leading center the body part or feature used by an actor to lead movements; often used to reflect a character’s major personality trait left and right terms used to refer to the stage from an actor’s point of view, not from that of the audience master gesture a distinctive action that serves as a clue to a character’s personality milk to draw the maximum response from the audience from comic lines or action off or offstage off the visible stage on or onstage on the visible stage overlap to speak when someone else is speaking pace the movement or sweep of the play as it progresses personal props small props that are usually carried in an actor’s costume, such as money, matches, a pipe, or a pen places the stage command for actors to take their positions at the opening of an act or scene plot to plan stage business, as to plot the action; to plan a speech by working out the phrasing, emphasis, and inflections pointing lines emphasizing an idea principals the main characters in a play or the named characters in a musical properties or props all the stage furnishings, including furniture and those items brought onstage by the actors ring up to raise the curtain role scoring the analysis of a character script scoring or the marking of a script for one character, indicating interpreta- scripting tion, pauses, phrasing, stress, and so on set the scenery for an act or a scene set props properties placed onstage for the use of actors sides half-sheet pages of a script that contain the lines, cues, and business for one character stealing a scene attracting attention from the person to whom the audience’s interest legitimately belongs subtext the unstated or “between the lines’’ meaning that an actor must draw from the script tag line the last speech in an act or a play, usually humorous or clever 100 ᪴ Interpreting the Drama 096-157 CH04-861627 12/4/03 12:03 AM Page 101 taking the stage giving an actor the freedom to move over the entire stage area, usually during a lengthy speech tempo the speed at which the action of a play moves along timing the execution of a line or a piece of business at a specific moment to achieve the most telling effect top to make a line stronger than the line or lines preceding it by speaking at a higher pitch, at a faster rate, or with greater volume and emphasis up or upstage the area toward the rear of the stage—away from the audience upstaging improperly taking attention from an actor who should be the focus of interest walk-on a small acting part that has no lines warn cue notification of an upcoming action or cue; usually indicated in the promptbook Application ACTIVITIES 1. Choose a scene from Part 2, and analyze the setting and stage directions. With a partner or small group, act out the scene, focusing on the movements onstage. Decide when you should use the different techniques, such as the cross and countercross. Have the audience evaluate your stage movements and tell how the movements affect the meaning of your presentation. Also, the audience should note if anyone stole the scene or upstaged another actor. 2. In a small group, create a comic script that contains motivated characters, conflict, and a resolution.
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