Coffee shops, restaurant patios, malls, and grocery stores are all great people watching places. If you’re in line somewhere, say hello to the people next to you and try to strike up a conversation.
Don’t be shy about asking more experienced actors in your play for help. Ask them for notes, advice, and tricks of the trade.
You’ll have a chance to play more challenging roles, learn from different directors and choreographers, and gain more knowledge of how a production works.
Read your lines at every opportunity, recite them over and over, and copy them by hand to help commit them to memory. If you have a long passage, say the first line over and over until you remember it, then add the next line. Add one line at a time until you’re comfortable with the entire passage.
Try practicing tongue-twisting vocal exercises, such as, “A proper copper coffee pot,” or “Knit kilts for nasty cold nights. ” Even if you’ll be using a microphone system, your audience won’t understand you if you mumble your lines.
If you have access to your performance space, have someone sit in the last row while you practice projecting your lines. They can let you know how audible you are and whether the quality of your voice changes. Try to find a large hall or similar space if you don’t have access to your performance location.
Try setting up a mirror or video camera and stand as far away from it as possible. Practice exaggerating your expressions and try to find your balance between clarity and staying natural. Getting notes from your director or theater-loving friend is also useful. It helps to know the size of your performance space. In a small intimate setting, you won’t need to exaggerate your expressions the way you would in a large theater.
For example, if your character learns something upsetting, you have to emote at exactly the right moment. Poor timing would ruin the illusion by reminding the audience that you’ve memorized a script. Think carefully about how to naturally time your expressions. If your character has just learned that their romantic interest is dead, would it take a moment or two to comprehend the news? Should you first convey shock and disbelief, then build into grief or rage?
You’ll find a range of available classes. If you want to work on reactions and concentration, improv might be best for you. A technique-focused class, like one on a specific acting method, might be best if you want to work on immersing yourself in a character. Go a teacher with years of proven teaching experience over flashy acting credentials. Just because someone has an impressive acting resume doesn’t mean they’re a great acting teacher. Depending on the prestige of the school or instructor, you might find courses that cost anywhere between $150 and $2000 (US). [10] X Research source Choose one that’s in your budget with the smallest class size. One on one time with a good teacher is better than being in packed class with a prestigious name.
For example, if your character is a noble living in sixteenth-century Italy, learn about the politics, religion, economics, and popular fashions of their world. Find portraits of wealthy people who lived at that time, and look closely at how they present themselves. Look up your character’s name. Find out if the playwright used its meaning as a clue about who that person is.
Make a list of their strengths, flaws, values, and temptations. What life events shaped them into who they are?
For instance, is there another character whom they trust more than others? Maybe you could hold your posture more rigidly and speak with a more formal tone around other characters. Then, drop your shoulders and speak with a more relaxed tone in scenes with the person your character trusts.
