Acting skills
The Skills of the Actor
I recently spent two full days working intensively with a client on the basics of acting. We broke the training down into the elements that I feel are necessary for an actor to excel in and habituate, it is the craft, it is our craft:
* Discerning from the script what is actable and what clues from the script should be acted upon.
* Harvesting from the script clues to the given imaginary circumstances.
* The capacity to work off your scene partner, to act and react, within the truth of the moment.
* Technical skils of voice, movement, an understanding of performing ’style’, and the professional skills necessary to act for stage, television, film and new media.
* Lastly the ability to connect to the script and the situation of the character.
Of course, I appreciate that traditional actor training has more components and if I taught a full course, it would certainly include more, but it wouldn’t include anything to do with character, because it’s unnecessary.
I don’t say that to be controversial. I don’t say that because I am not aware of character based training, I have trained in many of them and read the books of their master practitioners, I don’t say that ‘cos Mamet says so’, but because my experience, and this week’s work demonstrates that truthful, engaging, captivating performance can be delivered without it.
And as my intensive student goes off to Los Angeles to work with his agent on adding more acting work to his career, I feel confident that he takes with him, the seeds of the professional skills his acting career will need to blossom.
Further Tips on Acting for Auditions and Auditioning
There are lots of different approaches to auditioning, but here’s some food for thought on auditions, inspired by Caryn West.
1) Develop sensitivity to different types of material. Shakespeare and David Hare write very differently. I believe that you do not need to massively alter your technique from genre to genre, but you do need to get a feel for different types of material. Developing sensitivity to different types of writing can be done in advance, by simply reading different types of scripts, including television, radio and film scripts too. If you’re a committed actor, you’ll find the time.
2) Auditioning and Cold-Reading are two separate skills. Auditioning usually takes the shape of monologues, whereas cold-reading means being handed a script (sometimes a little in advance) on the day, and being asked to read. Even if the director is a novice and doesn’t respect or realise the difference, you should know it.
3) Actors are storytellers; you need to focus on the story. The simple fact is that drama is conflict in action. This conflict in action creates a story that keeps an audience captivated. One of the biggest problems of Method acting and other self-centred acting techniques is that they take the emphasis away from the telling of a story to delight and enthrall an audience and place it on the actor’s selfish character creation journey. In your monologue, tell the story, everything else is secondary.
4) Pick strong audition monologues. Strong audition monologues are vital. Whether your auditioning for drama school or for a job, you need to pick something that really shows off your best acting attributes. For this reason, don’t pick a comedy if you’re auditioning for a drama. BUT, always prepare a second choice, something contrasting to your first selection. The amazing Karen Kohlhaas, director, acting teacher and monologue coach in the US believes you should know 20 monologues. Her students are very successful, do you have that kind of commitment to your craft? Could you learn 5 instead?
5) Be prepared to talk about the role, the speech/scene and the play. This means you should read the play carefully, try to research it a little and make sure you understand the scene or speech. Learning to break a scene or speech down is a vital skill, if you need help, approach an acting coach.
6) When you go to an audition, dress basic, not too many patterns, bright clothes or dark clothes. Avoid white, but simple colours work well. Nevertheless, a single piece of idiosyncratic dress will help them identify you. However, if you’re going to play a businessperson, you may wish to dress this way to help you. Never for a Drama School audition though. Never wear a hat. Try to wear something similar if not the same clothes for your call back.
7) Always arrive earlier, about ten to fifteen minutes earlier. They may be running ahead. Not too early, you’ll make the others nervous.
Mark Westbrook is a professional acting coach, based in Glasgow, Scotland.
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