Whether working on stage or on a movie set, actors have to be able to act on cue. You have to be ready, engaged, and able to produce something when the director calls “action” or the lights come up. The work may not always be perfect, you might not always reach the level you hope for, but you have to do your best to come up with something respectable every time you work.
Acting on cue requires intense preparation. Do your homework so that you know exactly what the circumstances are and can play them. Work the script and create a clear picture of where your character is in their story line at all times. Know your character’s emotional states at the beginning and end of each scene. Work through your relationships with the other characters so you know how to react to them scene by scene. In other words, work hard in rehearsal to develop every aspect of your performance, from your textual understanding, to your physicality, to the character’s inner life.
Then when it comes time to perform, approach your work with conscious acting. Make the first moments of every scene or every take work by consciously playing some element of the conflict, circumstances, or character attitude. Consciously do something instead of waiting for your acting to simply be a response to your acting partner. Then once you are engaged in the scene, let yourself live in the moment and off of what your fellow actors are giving you.
Acting is not just some magical thing that happens by accident when the stars and actors align. It’s your job to make it happen when the lights come up or the director calls action. And you do that by doing your actor’s homework, rehearsing intensely, consciously playing the first moments, knowing your character’s transitions, and finally by living off your acting partners.
Eric Barr. All rights reserved
