Stella Adler said, “The actor has to develop his body. The actor has to work on his voice. But the most important thing the actor has to work on is his mind.”
The reason the actor’s mind is so important is because it is the actor’s job to interpret the script. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a scholar but it does mean that you must be able to read a script intelligently and draw out the information that is going to ‘feed’ your creativity. You must be able to understand character, plot, and motivation so you can make interesting acting choices and give yourself options to work with. The script is your guide. It is the blueprint for your performance and since it is written to be staged not read, it requires a different approach than reading fiction or non-fiction.
David Ball’s book, Backward and Forward, is only 96 pages long and yet it will provide you with a clear and effective approach to reading a play. As the review in Stage Directions said, “In fewer than 100 pages, this marvelously instructive book shows how to unlock the secrets of plot, character, theme, exposition, imagery, motivation, conflict, theatricality and pacing…Our editor says he learned more about dramatic structure in the few hours he spent with this 96-page book than he has in his 20-years of theater experience.”
Ball clearly explains ‘action’ and helps readers understand how one action generates another and creates the plot structure. He explains how actors can track their characters from the beginning to the end of the script and recommends working backwards, from the end to the beginning, to see exactly how characters get to their final destinations. As he says, “Going forwards allows unpredictable possibility. Going backwards exposes that which is required.” His approach will make it easy for you to understand what your character is doing and then you will be able to justify your work, give it meaning, and make interesting acting choices.
The book covers other topics such as theme, imagery, and tempo. It examines stasis and conflict, beginnings and endings. Backwards and Forwards reminds us and explains clearly that a script is not merely a narrative in dialogue form but that it is composed of particular elements that we must understand and be able to work with to do our jobs as theatre artists.
As Ball says, “Never accept commonplace or even sophisticated assumptions about the play. You are an artist; do your own interpretation. That doesn’t mean novelty for its own sake or twisting work beyond itself. It means mastery of analytic reading techniques to help you to your own conclusions, conclusions that illuminate, not violate the script.”
Backwards and Forwards is a book you should have on your bookshelf. It was written in 1983 and can be found in your library. Used copies can be found at Amazon or Alibris Books. Read it, take notes, write in the margins of your own copy, and make the ideas your own.