There is a philosophical question that asks: If a tree falls in the woods but no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?
Obviously the answer is yes. In nature and in life, we don’t have an audience to observe and validate everything we do. We just do. Actors, however, are not that trusting. They seem to think that the only thing that counts is if they hammer home a moment in the script or slather everyone in the audience with emotional jelly. But there is a better way.
First of all it is axiomatic that if you do something you will feel something. You cannot prepare for that feeling. Haven’t you ever said, “Wow! I didn’t expect I would feel that way,” when something happens to you? Or haven’t we all practiced what we wanted to say in that final break up conversation with a beau, only to have none of what we prepared come out in the actual moment? Suddenly our prepared remarks seem as if they are from a script, not the heart. A feeling must be something that is totally in and of the moment. We have all talked to people who have the annoying habit of speaking as if they are surrounded by a revolving wall of mirrors. “Who are they talking to?” we ask in our heads as we watch someone perform. I always get uncomfortable when I am in the company of someone like that because they are only there for themselves. I could be in Cleveland and they would not notice. Since there is nothing genuine about what they say or do, all I can do is observe, not participate.
Audiences do not pay money to observe a scene. When we observe something, we take a giant step away from the action. Once away, there is room in our minds for other thoughts to creep in. “Did I turn on the porch light?” “Did I put enough money in the meter?” While these are all interesting thoughts, they have no place in the alchemy that should exist between an actor and the audience. The key to the successful actor-audience experience can only happen when the actor shares what is going on. It is in that moment of sharing that the audience can suspend its disbelief, enter our world, and experience something on its own. When the actor tries to show what to feel, the audience is without purpose and is, therefore, not respected.
As the great tragedians of long ago understood, audiences want to be transported into another world. They called it catharsis. When a member of the audience cries it is because he, for that moment, is in the scene. His tears come because he is going through the experience with the actor and, in so doing, he is reacting individually. Call it transference, call it substitution, call it whatever you like, but it allows the audience to transport itself and that is why they pay the big bucks. That special moment needs the actor to be willing to share the experience without further instruction.
The actor must also respect and trust his character to live on his own without pulling the puppet strings. If you share yourself with your character, the audience can feel his moment. Actually, sharing with the character is much easier than controlling it. Remember, your character didn’t stay up all night memorizing lines. Your character did not plan what he would feel in a given moment any more than you or I do in life. Your character did not do the work. You did the work. But does that mean that you have to show it in order for it to have value? When we see a great painting we assume that the painter knows how to compose his picture and used a brush to create certain effects. If we are too busy seeing the technique, we have defeated the truth behind artistic expression.
The work put into a performance can only count when the actor trusts his work enough to step aside and let the character live his own life. If you try to manipulate a feeling, you are announcing, “I am not a good enough actor to trust the moment.” Once you do that, you are not only failing to respect your character, you are failing to respect yourself as an actor. You are a selfish actor.
What are the clues to selfish acting? When a client tells me that he was “thrown” by something unexpected that happened in the audition he is telling me that he was separate from his character. When a client says, “Well, I think I accomplished everything I wanted in that audition,” my heart skips a beat. If you are that aware of how the audition went, you did not respect your character or allow the audience to share in your moment. You cannot be in two places at the same time so you are either in the moment or observing it. The best moment after an audition is when you say, “I have no idea what I did or what they thought.” That out-of-body experience shows that you allowed your character to play the scene and you suspended your own self-censorship. You will never know what they thought, so if you try to take the room’s temperature you will not have respected your audience, your character, or yourself.
Respect is the important hallmark of any great actor. Respect for the audience will lead to sharing a moment with them; respect for your character will allow you to share your inner life without monitoring it; and respect for yourself, as an actor, will allow you to explore truth in an unfettered and organic way. If we are not creating truth, then what is it we are doing?
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