ACTING AS CONVERSATION

WHAT THE HECK IS THIS ?

This is a diagram of your basic acting tools: Mind - Body - Voice

Of course, this seems pretty obvious. (duh!) No great lesson here. But look closer at the diagram.

Notice three seperate elements share borders. This means that the three elements, mind, body, voice, although seperate, interact with each other. They communicate with each other. In fact, they depend on each other. Communication among the mind the body and the voice is critical to the acting process.

Developing communication, a "conversation", among the mind, the body, and the voice is an essential part of acting.

The MIND is the element that tends to dominate most. Have you been in a small group where one person does almost all the talking? Not a heck of a lot of input from the other members of the conversational group.

The person doing all the talking might indeed be interesting, entertaining and knowledgeable. And if all you want to do is to sit back and be entertained, without contributing anything - great, then sit back, nod your head and say "uh-huh" once in a while.

But - the conversation would lack something. It would lack the depth, insight, color, ideas, personality and surprise that the other members of the group could contribute to the conversation, if they were given a chance.

Many actresses, especially beginners, let their mind dominate the acting process. As a result, their performance lacks depth, insight, range, personality and surprise. It lacks input from the other members of the acting conversation, the body and the voice.

Actresses who let their mind dominate their acting say, "OK, here's what I think the character is all about, and here's how I'll play the character." Then the actress goes about playing the character the way she thought it should be played.

It might even be a passable performance. But it lacks input from the other two important elements in the acting process, so it is sadly deficient. The actress was too quick to think. She was too busy imposing her preconceived notions about the character to allow herself to hear the contributions her voice and body were willing to give; too preoccupied with her notion of how the character should be played to allow herself the chance to explore, discover and develop a character far different from her initial thoughts.

To explore, discover, and develop a character, an actress must learn to encourage her voice and body to join the conversation, and then listen to what they say.

Your Body's Contribution to the Conversation

Everybody knows what it feels like to be hungry. (If you have never felt hunger, just stop eating for a day, then you will know what mild hunger feels like.)

This is your body communicating with your mind. It is saying, "Hey buddy, I need food. Feed me!"

Your mind did not initiate this communication. Your mind did not say, "Hmmmmm. I have not had anything to eat for four or five hours, I think I'll make the stomach grumble and hurt a bit, and get cranky, and maybe I'll even start to think up food thoughts. OK stomach, start grumbling..."

Your body initiated this communication. Perhaps, you got a bit irritable, then your stomach might have started to pain you a bit, then you might have started thinking about food, then after receiving all these hunger messages from your body, gradually, your mind became aware of what was going on and you became conscious of the fact that you were hungry. "Gee, I'm hungry. Maybe I'll have lunch."

Your body initiates communication with your mind all the time:

• Your nose smells smoke, then you decide to look for fire.
• You see a a big dog, hear him growl, you stop, then you decide it is wiser to walk in the other direction - fast.
• You feel the warmth of the sun on your back at the beach, you relax and feel happy.

Of course, once the mind is aware of something, it communicates back to the body to take a course of action:

• Prepare a balogna sandwich for lunch.
• Sniff the air and slowly seek out the source of the smoke.
• Move to the other side of the street and keep an eye on the dog.
• Roll onto your back because your back is hot and you don't want to get sunburned.

This is a conversation between your body and your mind. This kind of conversation happens so quickly and so often, we hardly think about it. But it happens whether we think about it or not and it propels us through each day of our lives.

The actors' job, is to encourage this conversation between their body and their mind and to become as consciously aware of it as they can.

Encouraging Your Body to Enter the Conversation

As I said earlier, the mind tends to dominate the acting process, especially in the beginning. There is a lot of thinking that goes on. Script analysis, character analysis, interpretation of relationships, blocking, all sorts of thinking. The conscious mind gets a real workout.

Rehearsal is the place where the actors can do their best work at getting their bodies involved in the conversation. Your body can't get very involved sitting in a chair reading and thinking about a script. You have to move.

This link will lead you to a play which we will use for the rest of this lesson. You might want to print a copy.

(NOTE: For the rest of this lesson, you will be following links back and forth between the text of the play and the text of the lesson. You might want to have two browser windows open, one to the play text and one to the lesson text. You can then read the play text while you are also viewing the corresponding lesson text.)

Take a look at the first stage direction. (When you are done looking, press your browser's "Back" button to return here. You will use your "Back" button this way several times throughout the lesson.)

"Enter Rachel"

Seems simple enough, right? Well, not exactly. HOW is Rachel going to enter? Will she enter slowly? Quickly? Will she open the door slowly? Will she fall against it? Will she close the door behind her? Will she be smiling? Frowning? Flat expression? Crying? Wailing?

Hmmmmmmm. Not so simple any more.

Take a look at Rachel's first line and subsequent stage business..

Is Rachel sad? Happy? Crying? Emotionless? Weeping? Matter-of-fact? Preoccupied?

Does she look at the note with great interest? Does she study the note? Just give it a quick look? Does she put it down? Toss it aside? Let it flutter out of her hands? Does she carry it around for awhile? Does she put it in her pocket? How long does it take her to remove her hat and coat? Does she place the hat and coat on the chair carefully? Do they slide out of her grasp and fall to the table? Does she toss them?

Hmmmmmmm. Lots of decisions to make, and the play has only just started.

Let's start by noting that Rachel and Jacob are returning from Daniel's funeral. By the text, it seems that Rachel loved Daniel, her husband. So the initial choice we might make is to play a sad Rachel.

Of course, on the other hand, Daniel's death has freed Rachel to pursue a long held dream.

So maybe Rachel is happy that Daniel is dead. Perhaps we should play Rachel happy?

Oh me, Oh my. We have a dilema. Do we play Rachel happy or do we play Rachel sad? Well, since this is rehearsals, and a time to experiment a bit, maybe we should try it both ways, and see what happens.

Sad. How "sad" would you play Rachel? Sullen? Sorrowful? Despondent? Morose? Suicidal? Crushed? A little bit blue? Which one is right? Well, I don't know. You'll have to try acting them all, one at a time.

Of course, one cannot "act" an emotion. Emotions arise as a result of attaining or not attaining a desire. One has to perform actions that hopefully will ellicit the intended emotions from the audience.

Play "A little bit blue." Actions to play might be: Shoulders slumped, head bowed low, flat facial expression, movement tends to be slow, somewhat labored, arms feel a bit heavy...No fast movements. Maybe you sigh (not too deeply.)

Walk about your acting area for a while. Explore your acting area. Don't rush. Continue your "a little bit blue" actions.

After a while, continuing your "a little bit blue" actions, say your lines and do the hat, coat and note business.

Repeat the entire above sequence numerous times while trying out different "a little bit blue" actions.

While you are going through the above sequence, over and over, make yourself aware. Ask yourself, "How do these movements feel? What do these movement tell me about me, Rachel. About my situation. About my feelings for Daniel. My marriage, my relationship, Daniel's funeral, his death, of Jacob, of his presence, of my feelings toward him... The weight of my arms. The bend of my back. As I pull my arms back to remove my coat. As I raise my arm to remove my hat."

What does your body tell you about Rachel? About who she is? About what she wants? About what prevents her form getting what she wants?

Let your body talk to your mind. Let your mind listen.

Now, play "Crushed". What are actions for crushed. Some might be similar to "a little bit blue", but more intense. Instead of your head being bowed a bit, your shoulders slumped, your back a bit bent, you could be "crushed". Your entire body buckled over, drawn tightly inward, hold your self together, tightly to keep from crumpling to nothingness. A weight lays heavy upon you, crushing you to the floor (literally). Go to the floor. Weep, whimper, wail with pain.

While you are going through the above sequence, over and over, make yourself aware, ask yourself, "How do these movements feel? What do these movement tell me about me, Rachel. About my situation. About my feelings for Daniel. My marriage, my relationship, Daniel's funeral, his death, of Jacob, of his presence, of my feelings toward him..."crumpled on the floor, struggling to remove my coat and hat.

What does your body tell you about Rachel? About who she is. About what she wants? About the fulfillment of what she wants?

Let your body talk to your mind. Let your mind listen.

Do the same exercise numerous times. Each time perform actions for a different level of sadness: Sullen, Sorrowful, Despondent, Morose, Suicidal.

Each time, make yourself aware, ask yourself, "How do these movements feel? What do these movement tell me about me, Rachel. About my situation. About my feelings for Daniel. My marriage, my relationship, Daniel's funeral, his death, of Jacob, of his presence, of my feelings toward him..."

Let your body talk to your mind. Let your mind listen.

Exploration leads to discovery

As you explore the full range of Rachel's "sadness", you will discover a lot about your character that you simply would not have thought of if you had only "thought" about your character.

You will also discover elements of Rachel's sadness that, although you decide was not useful at this particular place in the play, might be extremely useful in other scenes of the play. Make notes in your script so when you rehearse other scenes of the play, you will be ahead of the game.

After you have explored the full range of Rachel's "sadness", then explore the full range of her "happiness"...blissful, buoyant, cheerful, joyous, mirthful, rapturous, sunny, pleased...Try on different levels of "happiness", finding actions for each, exploring the range of actions using the dialog as a foundation for the actions.

Think of other desires that your character might have. Explore the emotions that arise from the fulfillment or unfulfillment of those desires. Emotions or states of mind that you can explore through your body: fear, jealousy, anger, passion, paranoia, shyness...whatever.

Repeat the above exercise with each. Each time, make yourself aware, ask yourself, "How do these movements feel? What do these movement tell me about me, Rachel. About my situation. About my feelings for Daniel. My marriage, my relationship, Daniel's funeral, his death, of Jacob, of his presence, of my feelings toward him..."

Repeat the above process for other scenes in the play.

This is a time to explore, so be open to whatever happens. Don't make any final determinations about any particular desires, emotions or set of actions, yet. You can start narrowing and selecting later.

Take notes as thoughts occur to you. You will discover that Rachel is, as are most characters, quite complex. She wants many different things at different times. Her success or lack of success at attaining her desires evokes many different feelings. She is both happy and sad, she is joyous and fearful, she is in shock and in bliss, she is many things at many different times. And she can change in a matter of seconds. Her desires and emotions can shift several times within a single line, at a single word, a look, an expression.

All of this is up to you, the actress, to discover - with your body and your mind, working together, conversing together, to shape an interesting and in-depth Rachel.

Your Voice's Contribution to the Conversation

When you are going through the above "body" exercise with the lines of the script, you will notice that your voice changes as you try out different emotions or states of mind. You have sad voices, happy voices, joyous voices, defeated voices...all kinds of voices.

Frequently, actresses impose a voice upon their character without exploring the full range possible. For instance. Read the following dialog in an "angry" voice.

R.    Jacob!

R.     Jacob - and Daniel - not - not even cold in his grave...

R.     You're crazy!...

R.     Jacob you are crazy. Stark crazy. It's awful, just awful! Even if I hadn't just buried your brother...

R.     How can you say that to me? Me! I was a faithful and dutiful wife to your brother all his years! I won't talk to you!...

R.     I don't want to understand. This is madness, raving madness...

R.     Get out of my way!

Many actresses would have shouted the lines. Initially, to many people, "angry" means "GET LOUD". Many times it does. But there is also a quiet anger. A spitting, hissing anger, a glaring, searing, piercing anger, a rigid, taught, in total control anger, there is a sweet and melodious anger. Depending upon the character and the circumstances of the moment, there are many ways to express anger other than raising the decibel level of one's voice.

All these ways of verbally expressing anger need to be explored.

In fact, you need to explore the dialog with the full range of vocal possibilities, to see how things sound, to see what your voice has to say about the lines, words, phrases - independent from how your mind thinks those lines, words and phrases should sound.

First off, let's take a look at the range of your voice.

NO SOUND/SOUND

The text of a play is composed of non-verbal sounds, verbal sounds and no sounds.

Non-verbal sounds are things like: snapping fingers, the thud of a body hitting the floor, the crack of a whip, the blast of a gun, music. Non-verbal sounds are usually used for emphasis or effect.

Verbal sounds are sounds the actress makes with her mouth. Sighs, screams, hisses, groans, laughs and of course, words. We will get back to this part later.

No sounds are - well - no sound. Silence. The lack of sound, silence, is extremely important to an actress, and is usually not used well. Usually not at all, intentionally.

Read the following speech.

If you follow the punctuation, there are up to 9 places where one might stop talking. (at each comma and period.)

However, there really is no rule that says you have to strictly follow the punctuation. You can stop talking wherever you want to stop talking.

Let's take the same speech, and add our own punctuation. The -- means to take a brief pause.

Better to lie in a -- drunkard's grave? I saved you from that -- and you've -- lived -- decent. -- Maybe you've had some -- crazy ideas, but you -- had -- sense enough, to keep them to yourself. And -- you have -- sense enough, now, Jacob -- to see things -- must change. You must see -- I can't stay here - You take the farm -- and -- run it, or we'll -- sell, whatever you like.

Now, Read the same speech, but make the silence even longer.

Better to lie in a - - - - drunkard's grave? I saved you from that - - - - and you've - - - - lived - - - - decent. - - - - Maybe you've had some - - - - crazy ideas, but you - - - - had - - - - sense enough, to keep them to yourself. And - - - - you have - - - - sense enough, now, Jacob - - - - to see things - - - - must change. You must see - - - - I can't stay here - You take the farm - - - - and - - - - run it, or we'll - - - - sell, whatever you like.

Now, Read the same speech, but make the silence still longer.

Better to lie in a - - - - - - - - - - - -  drunkard's grave? I saved you from that - - - - - - - - - - - -  and you've - - - - - - - - - - - -  lived - - - - - - - - - - - -  decent. - - - - - - - - - - - -  Maybe you've had some - - - - - - - - - - - -  crazy ideas, but you - - - - - - - - - - - -  had - - - - - - - - - - - -  sense enough, to keep them to yourself. And - - - - - - - - - - - -  you have - - - - - - - - - - - -  sense enough, now, Jacob - - - - - - - - - - - -  to see things - - - - - - - - - - - -  must change. You must see - - - - - - - - - - - -  I can't stay here - You take the farm - - - - - - - - - - - -  and - - - - - - - - - - - -  run it, or we'll - - - - - - - - - - - -  sell, whatever you like.

Now, Read the same speech, but make the silences each 5 seconds long. It will feel like an eternity between words. But do it anyway.

(You can repeat the above exercise, extending the duration of silence for as long as you want.)

Egads! Seems odd doesn't it. Well it is odd. People don't usually talk this way. Or do they? As you do the above exercise, make yourself aware of how the silence between words effect the dialog. Effect the way you think about how you might say the dialog.

Of course you will not say each word with 5 seconds (or more) of silence between each, but then neither should you say each word with no silence between each. Become aware of silence. Play with it. Experiment with it, Listen to what the silence tells you about your character. About what your character is thinking, feeling, intending. Learn to use silence - loooooooooooooong periods of silence and short periods of silence, even though the punctuation does not agree.

So much for no sound.

Now for verbal sound. Verbal sounds are made up of words and non-word sounds (yawns, screams, laughter, groans, etc.)

Non-word sounds can convey a tremendous amount of meaning and insight into character (for example, the Tim the Toolman Taylor's Home Improvement "grunt".) These sounds need to be explored. However, we will get back to them later.

At this point, we will explore words.

Words, otherwise known as "dialog", are deceptive things. For instance. Let's take three words - "He ran home." A simple, declarative sentence, right? What does it mean? Well, it means - - - some guy, He , did something, ran , to someplace, home .

Well, yes and no. Let's try a little exercise. Accent the first word, He.

HE ran home. Now the sentence takes on the meaning that a particular person, HE (as opposed to all other possible people,) ran home.

Now, accent the second word, ran.

He RAN home.

The sentence now has a different meaning. Some guy did a particular action (as opposed to all other actions,) he RAN home.

Now accent the last word, home.

He ran HOME .

The meaning is again different. Some guy ran to a particular place (as opposed to all other places,) He ran HOME .

Three words, three different meanings.

Actually, there can be many, many more meanings. What if the character who says the line, "He ran home." is telling another character a story about a man who was leaving a grocery store, pushed an elderly lady to the ground, then, instead of helping her, he ran home. And what if the character was appalled at the man's insensitive and uncaring behavior.

Now the simple declarative sentence, "He ran home.", takes on another meaning. "Isn't that man a terrible, uncaring, insensitive, brute of a man."

You can make up numerous scenarios, each one conveying a different meaning. Each one interpreting the same three words, "He ran home.", in different ways. What would be the "RIGHT" way to say those three words?

There is no "RIGHT" way to say them.

Yup, that old deceptive dialog can sure make an actress' brain spin.

So if there is no "RIGHT" way to say a line, how do you "decide" how each line of a play should be said? Well, at first, you don't "decide". You explore. The deciding comes later.

Read the following lines.

Like our "He ran home" exercise, there are many, many ways one might say those various lines. There are many, many ways one might manipulate the way one speaks dialog to convey different meanings.

What are some of the ways one might manipulate the way one speaks dialog? Here are a few:

• Stress
• Pitch
• Volume
• Rhythm
• Repetition
• Diction

STRESS

Our "He ran home" execerise is an example of this manipulation of dialog. Intentionally stressing specific words or phrases easily affects meaning. You should say your lines, stressing different words to see how the meaning is altered each time.

R.     Yes , I mean to go. I'm in prison here. I have been for years.

R.    Yes, I mean to go. I'm in prison here. I have been for years.

R.    Yes, I mean to go. I'm in prison here. I have been for years.

R.    Yes, I mean to go . I'm in prison here. I have been for years.

R.    Yes, I mean to go. I'm in prison here. I have been for years.

R.    Yes, I mean to go. I'm in prison here. I have been for years.

R.    Yes, I mean to go. I'm in prison here. I have been for years . And, of course, different combinations:

R.    Yes, I mean to go. I'm in prison here. I have been for years .

As you stress different words and phrases, keep yourself open to how the meaning is effected. Does one variation seem to emerge as dominant, or seem "right" in the context of attaining your character's desires and what else is going on in the play?

Does one variation seem to create new revelations about your character? New insights or a perspective you did not think of before you began exploring your lines by altering the stress of words and phrases?

You should explore variations of stress with all your lines in the early rehearsal stages. Do not lock into a specific pattern too early. Keep yourself open and flexible. Even later on in rehearsals, as you begin to set patterns of stressing certain words or phrases, occassionally try new ways to stress words and phrases, especially in places where you are unclear of intention or meaning or relationships among characters.

Let your voice enter the conversation. Explore the dialog. Let your voice lead your mind to discovery.

PITCH

Pitch has to do with how high or low your voice is. Pitch can reveal a lot about a character. A character who is afraid, agitated or nervous will often times speak in a higher pitch than they normally would. A character who is trying to project an air of authority or control, might speak in a lower pitch than normal. Like with "STRESS", you should say your lines using different pitches. Try saying you lines in a very high pitched voice - as high as you can make it, even if it sounds ridiculous for the character or scene. Keep your mind open. How does saying the lines this way affect what you think about the character, the meaning of the lines, the situation? Now try saying the lines in as low a pitch as you can. Keep your mind open. How does saying the lines this way affect what you think about the character, the meaning of the lines, the situation? Now try saying the lines in a sing-song fashion, starting very low, gradually getting higher and higher, then getting low again, repeating the low-high sequence over and over. Keep your mind open. How does saying the lines this way affect what you think about the character, the meaning of the lines, the situation? Obviously, you probably would not say your lines this way. This is an exercise to help you explore the full range of your voice. To help you use your voice to discover something about your character that you would not be able to discover by simply thinking about your character.

Let your voice enter the conversation. Explore the dialog. Let your voice lead your mind to discovery.

VOLUME, RHYTHM, REPETITION, DICTION

You are probably getting the idea of what you need to do to explore the full range of you voice. Do exercises like the above ones focusing on each of the elements, VOLUME (loud/soft), RHYTHM (fast/slow), REPETITION (repeat sounds, words, phrases, even if they are not written in repetition in the dialog), and DICTION (how precisely you pronounce a word).

With each element, explore the FULL RANGE that you are capable of using. When exploring VOLUME, get loud - REALLY LOUD Then explore soft - really soft , and everything in between and various combinations.

For RHYTHM, explore saying your lines fast - reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyfast. Then explore slow - r - e - a - l - l - y - - -r - e - a - l - l - y - - -r - e - a - l - l - y - - -r - e - a - l - l - y - - -r - e - a - l - l - y - - -s - l - o - w - . Then explore everything in between and various combinations.

For REPETITION, Say the dialog but add repetition of words, words, words, words, words, words, s - s - s - s - s - s - s - ounds, or even entire phrases. -even entire phrases. -even entire phrases. even entire phrases. even entire phrases. even entire phrases.

For DICTION, speak each word as precisely and correctly as you possibly can. Den twy speek'n dem wurds all sreweded up, slurringwordtogetherand mispernuncin' woids an doin' all sertz off wired tings to dem dar werdses.

With each exercise, keep your mind open. How does saying the lines this way affect what you think about the character, the meaning of the lines, the situation?

Remember, these exercises are to help you explore the full range of your voice. To help you use your voice to discover something about your character that you would not be able to discover by simply thinking about your character.

Let your voice enter the conversation. Explore the dialog. Let your voice lead your mind to discovery

---

NON-WORD SOUNDS , as mentioned somewhere earlier, can convey a tremendous amount of meaning and insight into character (for example, the "Tim the Toolman" Taylor's Home Improvement "grunt".) These sounds need to be explored.

Non-word sounds are grunts, laughs, sneezes, sniffs, sobs, sighs, and all the hundreds of other noises performers produce with their voice-parts (lips, tongue, teeth, lungs, etc.)

People make non-word sounds all the time. Often times these noises have no particularly dramatic meaning, like sneezing during hayfever season, or coughing because one has a cold. Other times the sounds might have a specific meaning, like "Mmmmmmmmmm" to indicate something tastes good, or like clearing one's throat to quietly indicate to someone you want them to shut up because they are saying something stupid or embarassing.

An actress can use non-word sounds as character mannerisms, like a character who always sniffs loudly when she gets angry. Such mannerisms would not likely be written into the script by the author. The actress would invent it herself by playing around with different non-word sounds until she found one that seemed appropriate to her character.

As another example, let's take a look at Sarah's entrance and subsequent lines.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with saying the lines just as they are. But one could also imagine Sarah occasionally sighing or moaning a bit herself as she empathizes with Rachel's and Jacob's grief. Or perhaps she could inhale sharply and audibly when the gun shot is heard - to emphasize the drama of the shot.

Note the word "occasional" in the above paragraph. Keep in mind that non-word noises are generally used sparingly. Doing too much can easily have a comic effect, which might be OK if its comedy you are after. But generally, that's not what you are trying to accomplish. For instance, if Sarah started sighing, moaning, or inhaling audibly before every sentence - well it would sound quite silly.

As you rehearse the dialog, look for opportunities to include some non-word sounds. Use them for emphasis or to help establish your character.

The Final Contribution to the Conversation

Take a look at the diagram at the top of this page.

Notice all the sparkley stuff in the diagram? Do you know what that is?

Well that's the you will create when your Mind, Body and Voice all make their own special contributions to the conversation that is the acting process.