It is time for Leaders in every corner of the economy to UP THEIR GAME.
I have already written an article about mentors and what mentorship means to a young person. I don’t think enough is discussed how difficult and intimidating the transition is from being a student for over a decade to being thrust into the working world. This is one of the most difficult lines we cross as human beings, and we rarely discuss the ramifications it has on the rest of our lives. Mentorship has a cousin by the name of apprenticeship…
Acting Tip # 9
Happy Monday! My pre-production is going really well and I am counting down the days until I finally get to be in the rehearsal hall with my actors. Well, the Zoom rehearsal hall, that is! Maybe one day I will write an article on directing for the theatre over Zoom!? Many of us have done it and, I am sure, we are all ready to get back into that theatre. But I digress…
Here I am with Acting Tip # 9. This one is going to be short and sweet. Today I am going to talk…
Acting Tip # 8
For those who have read my 7 previous acting tips, I am sorry # 8 took so long! I am in the middle of pre-production for my next show and it is a doozy. I am finally getting caught up with my passion for writing on Medium!
Many actors struggle to have a detailed plan when it comes to structuring rehearsals so they maximize time. If you are in Canada or the United States, you might be used to the producer saying rehearsal is 3 weeks. At the larger theatres, you are lucky to get 4–6…
Acting Tip #7
This is one of the largest fears of actors. To truly become versatile as an actor, you must be able to disguise yourself as someone else. Lord Olivier used to say his biggest joy was trying to disguise himself so nobody would recognize him. This should be every actor’s goal. Now I am not saying go back to putty noses, but, hey, there are worse ideas if done well. But this is not an article about disguises. How do we become a chameleon through our acting without costumes, make-up, or props? The answer is accents. Accents should…
Acting Tip #6
Falling Man by Oliver Sjostrom Pexels
The main challenge for many young actors is their ability to deliver a line of classical text without tripping on a word or many of them. When we see a word we do not recognize, it is like we hit a huge bump in the road which ruins the rest of the journey. The problem is, you have one hundred or a thousand people in an audience witnessing you trip and being very confused about what the journey is.
Classical texts take a great deal of work because you must do…
Acting Tip #5
This acting tip is fairly simple, yet I still come across actors who embody a casualness in their acting and performance. It may be a naïveté or misunderstanding about film acting, or maybe certain courses are championing a type of ease on camera. Ease can still have energy, but it is more contained. It is a constant buzzing while you are on camera that nobody can see. The audience feels it through the intense focus. This is a little different than stage acting as it demands more of the actor. Acting Tip # 5 is that you…
Acting Tip # 4
I find young actors are very raw and have many warm-up exercises that they can do to perfection before the rehearsal begins. This is terrific, but it shows off their technique. The greatest actors in the world work very hard to hide their technique. It is the ultimate place you want to achieve in your acting. You want it to seem simple and effortless. To achieve this, many actors concentrate on the wrong things. This is where Acting Tip # 4 comes in:
Clarity in speech is acting’s most important need. This is where you will…
Acting Tip # 3
Gear shift by Martinus Pexels
I know it must sound funny reading the title of this article. Bear with me for a second as I explain how acting is like driving a standard car.
First, you must be in absolute control of your instrument. It is never fun working with an actor who is out of control and it is rare that their acting is very good on a consistent level. A professional makes sure their work is always top-notch at a consistent level.
How do you start approaching your work with this level of consistency…
Acting Tips #2
Jumping off my article on Acting Tips # 1, I want to talk about something that I constantly remind actors about. We are taught so much in theatre school or by acting coaches about technique. We are even luckier if we are introduced to a teacher who can help give us tips on breaking down a script. This next tip is one that is rarely talked about except by great classical actors who were mentored or taught to really listen in the rehearsal hall.
You should know by now that acting is about constantly mining words for…
Short Acting Tip Article #1
For the next few days, I will be doing short articles with tips for actors. Yes, my life has become insanity all of a sudden since I am going into pre-production for the next play I am directing.
Today I want to discuss something that many actors will be surprised to hear. My opinion on the most important part of an actor’s script work. For those who are not actors, you may be surprised to hear how much work great actors actually do on a script. The number one question most actors receive from those…
