How the Actor Commands Attention
by Daniel Roach | 3 Comments
It’s a common saying in theatre that the moving figure dominates, but that’s not the whole story. Actors are taught from the beginning of their careers that the audience pays more attention to the person moving than to the person talking. This is true to a point, but conventional wisdom is wrong again when taken as a generalization. The moving figure may dominate the stage, but it’s the motionless figure that captures the attention of the audience. In theatre as in life, we tend to pay more attention to people who are moving far less than those around us. We are drawn to people who seem calm and collected and we are wary of those who seem quietly dangerous. Our eyes may move to the man who is walking, but our attention always returns to the man who stands his ground.
Think back to when you were a child and you’d gotten caught doing something you shouldn’t have. Think back to all those times your parents yelled at you for something you’d done and all those times you ignored them simply because they were yelling. As kids we tended to tune our parents out best when they were at the height of their fury and were becoming apoplectic with rage. We listened them best however when they became very quiet and very calm. There was a certain kind of terror that went with the calm voice and the controlled, quiet brand of rage. We listened closely, we didn’t dare look away. An actor on the stage is the same as an enraged parent; the audience, their child.
The actor who gestures wildly and shouts when they’re angry quickly looses the attention of the audience. They may still watch her, they may still be halfway listening to her, but they aren’t truly paying any attention because they know what will happen next: she’s yelled before, she’s yelling now, it’s a good bet she’s going to continue yelling. The actor they watch will be the one who speaks very coldly when angry and moves very little. Her figure is like a mountain onstage, her anger radiating like invisible waves. She doesn’t shout, she doesn’t flail, she stands her ground and becomes a force of nature. The audience is on the edge of their seats watching, hanging on her every word because they have no idea what she might do. Her anger is an unpredictable volcano; could go off and destroy
Certain characters must flail and yell, but to do so all the time is a weak and easy choice. Some characters never flail and yell, but to do so all the time is a weak and easy choice as well. The actor gains respect onstage by choosing the most powerful moments to stand perfectly still, to speak slowly and clearly so that there is no chance of being misunderstood by anyone.
Movement asks for an audience’s respect and attention; having the courage to stand still and do nothing commands that attention.
Filed Under Articles, The Best of, The Body, How To, Career
5 Tips for Overcoming Exhaustion and Getting Back to Work
by Daniel Roach | 1 Comment
“The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is looking.”
–Mia Hamm
If there is one thing the audience never knows about actors, it’s how tiring our job truly is. People have literally laughed at me when I told them how tired I was after a show. “Why?!” they would ask, as if to say “You said a few words onstage and you’re tired? What a wuss.” In my last post I talked about how tired my current show was making me and how surprised I was by it. I’ve always found myself fairly exhausted after long rehearsals or performances, but this time was nothing compared to past experiences. In light of my increasing exhaustion I began thinking about all of the ways that I could overcome it, knowing always that I was going to have to get up the next day and do it all over again.
So for my first update since recovering from the first weekend performances of said tiring show I thought I’d dedicate an article to all the other tired actors and everyone else in the world with a taxing and exhausting job. For all those folks, I present 5 Tips for Overcoming Exhaustion and Getting Back to Work.
- Drink Water – is rule number one. The biggest part of your exhaustion probably has to do with being dehydrated and there’s only one way to fix that. Drink as much water as you can get your hands on before and after you find yourself sweating under the stage lights. Being that your body is made up of somewhere between 70-80% water, including your brain, you might want to start refueling it as often as possible.
- Drink Gatorade Everyday – is an addendum to rule number one. Drinking water is great for overcoming exhaustion and replenishing the water that your body loses through perspiration, breathing and just generally being alive; too much water, however, can actually cause your exhaustion. I discovered this rule just recently and it helps immensely. Too much water can begin flushing nutrients out of your body and cause fatigue. Gatorade is designed to do the exact opposite by putting these nutrients back into your body. Drink a bottle a day if your find yourself working hard, otherwise it’s not necessary as too much Gatorade contains more sodium than the average person needs everyday.
- Vitamin C Yourself – Vitamin C supplements are a god-send, I kid you not. Those little pills have saved me from the Flu in record time and kept it at bay more than once. When you’re working yourself harder than normal, say during the week before a show opening, make sure you have Vitamin C handy and plenty of it. Being tired lowers your defenses to illness and you getting sick means the rest of the cast could get sick as well. Dope yourself up good with Vitamin C and plenty of water and that cold won’t be able to touch you.
- Sleep as Much as Possible – this one is really a “Duh!” kind of rule but it’s worth mentioning. So many times people overwork themselves, only to go home and get the same amount of sleep they would normally get on any other night. Sometimes it just can’t be helped, but whenever possible you should get more sleep than you think you need if you’ve been working harder than normal. If you can swing it, sleep for twelve hours. That’s more sleep than you should normally get, but recovery is the name of the game when exhaustion sets in. Sleep more than normal when you work more than normal.
- Don’t Push It – If you don’t feel like you can tackle anything else today but your performance, then don’t. Sometimes we can’t avoid other commitments and tasks, but when they can be dodged, dodge them quickly. This is the whole reason I refrained from updating during the last week. I knew that I was just too exhausted to give it my best shot. I made a few vain attempts at articles, but they turned out to be very rambling and vague. Finally I gave up and said that if I couldn’t give it my best I would just have to not give it and wait anxiously for the day when I was coherent enough for a comeback.
So there you have it. I know that most of these sound pretty obvious, but you might be surprised at how easily we forget them when we find ourselves in these situations. We push ourselves so far that we finally crash and that’s never a good thing. Take care of yourself and know when to stop running; know when to sit back and do nothing or when to sleep past your alarm. Recovery is the name of the game and you’ve got to learn to keep yourself in tip-top shape because a broken actor is no good to anyone
Now go out and Sin Boldly! . . . just be sure to take a nap afterwards.
Filed Under Articles, Personal Development, Survival, The Body, Career, Fitness
