We all come from somewhere. So when you enter the stage or into the frame you are coming from somewhere, which means that your acting must begin in the wings before you are seen. You enter for a reason and you are coming from some place specific.
Stand by any door, anywhere, and watch people come through it. You will see life spill into the room with them. By that I mean, you will see how people are feeling and you’ll get a sense of their attitudes as they enter. That is because they are responding to specific stimuli in their lives and caught up in them. While you may or may not be able to decipher exactly what caused them to act or behave in a certain way, their feelings and attitudes are still on display.
So whether you enter a scene or start onstage, your character must be responding to specific circumstances and situations. Your character is not a blank slate waiting to be acted upon. The character is there for there for a reason and, just like a real person, has attitudes about the given circumstances and situations he or she is in.
For every scene you are in, imagine the moments before the scene begins so you can respond to them. Determine how your character feels about the situation he or she is in. Figure out what his or her attitude is to what is going on and make sure that it is a specific response to specific stimuli. This will help you to leap into every scene and it will invigorate your acting.
Eric Barr. All rights reserved
