Read Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Acting (But Were Afraid To Ask, Dear) Online
Authors: West End Producer
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Acting (But Were Afraid To Ask, Dear) (10 page)
As mentioned earlier, some people believe that a good actor doesn’t have to bother learning lines – that if they have done their work in rehearsals and studied the script correctly, the lines will go in automatically. This is all well and good if you’re playing a supporting character with four lines, but is something of an impossibility if you are playing Hamlet. Unless, of course, you are Kenneth Branagh – in which case you can just say ‘de-dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dum’, dear.
There is also the question about whether an actor should learn their lines
before
or
after
rehearsals begin. There are arguments for both approaches. Some actors refuse to start work on a script before rehearsals, claiming they aren’t being paid to work on it at that point. An actor who learns lines before rehearsals tends to have learnt them with a specific character idea in mind – which can be extremely difficult to change. Many actors think it far easier to learn lines once they’ve ‘put the character on its feet’ – so that as they are learning the lines they can visualise where they are standing.
A new method I heard about recently involved a few actors who had recorded their lines onto a device which was then played back to them through a tiny earpiece during the performance. The only problem came when the recording device skipped a few lines, which resulted in them saying their lines in completely the wrong places. Using this method there was a memorable performance of
Oliver!
where Nancy sang a rousing rendition of ‘Oom-Pah-Pah’ when she was supposed to be singing ‘As Long as He Needs Me’. Bless.
Learning lines is hard. But saying them ‘out loud’ is even harder, dear.
It is very common for an actor to come to rehearsals and proclaim ‘I’ve learnt all my lines!’ – only for them to gibber like an idiot as soon as they get to their scene. You see, there is a very large distinction between knowing your lines at
home and saying them out loud in the rehearsal room. When on your own all you have to worry about is saying the lines – but when standing in a rehearsal room you have to not only
say
the lines, you have to
act
the lines (which is difficult and should only be attempted by experienced actors). Many people make the mistake of thinking that talking and acting at the same time is easy. It is not. Which is why it is vital that you practise, practise, practise!
If you are unfortunate enough to be in a show where someone doesn’t know their lines, it is very tempting to try and help them. Whilst this is very generous, it should be approached with severe caution. An actor’s job is to say his own lines, and his own lines
only
– if you start saying someone else’s lines not only will it look like you want a bigger role, but also that you are trying to show them how to do their role. It is to be avoided at all costs, even if you feel you are saving the production. The difficulty is that if you help them out every night they will rely on you to prompt them for the rest of the contract – and they will
never
learn their lines. The best thing to do is let them suffer on stage in front of an audience, where they will look like an idiot and be forced to find a way out themselves. They will very quickly realise that they have no other option than to learn their lines. And fast!
Some actors feel the need to go through their lines in public, as they adore the thrill of doing it in front of strangers. Over the years I have spied actors mouthing their lines in coffee houses, buses, public toilets and at international sporting events. Whilst it is not necessarily deemed illegal, it certainly is something that is frowned upon. I have seen entire restaurants cleared of members of the public as an actor gets their script out and talks to himself. It is very unnerving to watch, and makes civilians even more unsure about actors. If you are into this sort of thing I recommend searching the classified section in your local paper for ‘acting dogging spots’, dear.
Actors – a stage kiss is only meant to last ten seconds. Any longer and it is considered abuse, dear.
Taking Over a Role
The role of an actor in theatre is constantly changing. And a new type of performer that is increasingly prominent is the ‘takeover actor’. These kinds of actors are marvellous at going into a long-running show and doing exactly what they are told – by standing in exactly the same places as the actor before them did. They are not employed to be creative or add anything new to the character. They come from a different school of acting – the ‘shut up and stand where you are told’ method.
A takeover actor will be highly experienced in the art of copying. If they are not, and they resist standing in the same position as the actor before them, they will inevitably miss their light – and consequently do the entire performance in darkness. This is very awkward for the actor, and terribly confusing for the audience.
A takeover actor must also try and say the lines and sing the songs exactly the same way as the person before them did. This reduces the need for musical directors to change tempos unnecessarily. And it also means the other actors won’t have to respond in a different way. There is nothing worse than ‘throwing’ an actor who has been in a show for two years because someone new waltzes in and does something different. This is not the job of the takeover actor. The takeover actor has to make the transition as smoothly as possible, preferably so that the rest of the cast don’t even realise that another actor is playing the role. This also avoids the cast having to learn the new actor’s name.
In the first few days of a ‘takeover cast’ rehearsal, the resident director will be very welcoming of your individuality
and tell you that you can keep it ‘fresh’ by bringing in new ideas. This is a lie. It simply isn’t possible in terms of time and money to have every new cast member doing something different. Look at all the long-running musicals in the West End. They have only lasted because of the fine, talented and inspirational performers who came in and did exactly what the person before them was doing.
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| The Threats of Actors If you feel your individual disciplines of acting, singing and dancing are strong, you may feel ready to take it to the next stage. This is where you could become a ‘triple-threat actor’! Triple-threat actors are a new species of actor that, until recently, never used to exist, but due to genetic engineering, cross-breeding and contaminated water, these super-performing machines are no longer a thing of dreams. In the industry there was a belief that these new breed of ‘threat’ actors were being mass-produced by a sweatshop factory in Southern America, but recently this was disproved when a label on Summer Strallen was discovered saying ‘Made in China’. | |
| Different Types of Threat No threat Single threat Double threat Triple threat Quadruple threat Quintuple threat | |
| Sextuple threat Septuple threat Octuple threat Any actors who consider themselves above a quintuple threat are treated with caution – as these people tend to spontaneously combust due to talent overload. My advice to these kinds of performers is to go and work in admin. It’s a lot safer. | |
| A word of warning I am currently lobbying Spotlight to allocate a ‘threat’ status option in the actor’s ‘skills’ section. This will allow your agent to input what threat of an actor you are – and save lots of precious audition time and money. For example, if I need sixteen quintuple-threat actors who can play the didgeridoo, this simple tool will save my casting director years of searching. | |
| It’s a sad truth, but to succeed in the business these days you need to be highly skilled in all areas. It’s just like if you are an IT expert, being proficient on Excel is not enough – you | |
| If you are lucky enough to have floppy hair, a posh voice, and some lovely brogues then your first job will be at the RSC. But if, at the beginning of your career, you do a musical, then a play, then a cabaret, then a cruise ship, then a physical-theatre piece, then back to an acting piece – your CV looks confusing as it doesn’t look like you specialise in one type of performance. Which is the frustrating thing – because you can do them all! So, I suggest being clever with your CV, and only putting jobs on there that sell you as the type of actor you want to be. If you want to be a serious actor, just put plays and TV credits on. This makes it far more likely that a casting director will take you seriously. | |
| If you have a CV that’s full of all different disciplines, a casting director and director won’t know what to do with you. In one respect you are more cast-able when just leaving drama school – as you are a blank canvas. For example, if you have been working professionally for years and have only theatre credits on your CV, it’s very unlikely a TV casting director will call you in. So decide what kind of actor you are. However, by saying this I don’t mean you should turn all work down. Work leads to work, and contacts lead to contacts – but just be conscious of what kind of actor you will be perceived as. | |
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