Use these tips to book your next acting job
When Stanislavsky developed his method, his primary goal was to give actors the tools they could use to deliver the most realistic performance possible. Breaking with the standing rule of body work and voice projection as the most important work an actor could do, he wanted to instill emotion in the audience through naturalism and empathy.
In other words, actors were trained to memorize their lines, speak them loudly and clearly, and move on the stage precisely. Stanislavsky observed that some actors delivered a great performance, making the audience enjoy the story whereas others seemed to act robotically and were not as entertaining to watch.
He started his experimental lab with improvisation and trial-and-error exercises. His goal was to create every scene with meaning: a person does not just leave their house through the front door; the scene starts a moment before that – when they mentally set their goal to “go out” and proceed to get ready, grab their keys, make sure they locked everything, etc.
With this new approach to acting, where an actor fills the shows of a character with their personal senses and emotions, performances reached a new level of excellence. Until this day, actors all over the world aim for that naturalism when performing. That creates more compelling stories to watch.
With that in mind, I compiled 5 quick and easy ways you can use the Stanislavsky method techniques when you are at your audition.
- Stage Directions
When you are given your script, look first at what is in the heading of a scene and in parenthesis. Writers often place little hidden gems there that may go unnoticed when the actor is only worried about their lines. The intention a character has is not always verbalized. That means, we don’t always say what we are feeling or thinking and neither does our character. That is why stage directions are important. They may give you a good clue of the character’s intentions and demeanor. Demeanor is an important part of someone’s personality and not always associated with what they say. Stanislavsky taught us that we need to be aware of what our character wants at all times. Stage directions can give us clues we may not have without reading the entire play. For example: In “Doubt: A Parable,” Sister Aloysius says, “Sit down.” In parentheses, though, you see that Father Flynn takes her chair at her desk. Also in parenthesis, the playwright wrote: “She reacts but says nothing.” What a clue! So, first and foremost, find and follow your stage directions.
2. Word Stress
Once you know your character’s intention and establish their demeanor, explore the actual words they say. Every character has a personality and a demeanor, as we just talked about. Now take it to the next level: find out what are the most important words said in every line. Highlight that word or those words and give them special color and musicality. Make sure your audience does not only hear those words but fully embody their meaning in the context. Some words need the stress. Other words are there to support that. Remember: Words are important. Stress them accordingly.
Now, just the opposite: when not to speak. There are moments of silence in almost every dialogue and even in monologues. Silence means that nothing else is being said. If you can place a period at the end of a sentence using only your demeanor, that is a powerful performance. Discover moments when your character is silent and make them come alive with a subtle but powerful presence at that moment. That can be challenging but it is worth it. Silence is gold!
Well, we already talked about silence. So, why are we talking about pauses now? Are they the same thing? They are not. A pause gives continuity to a thought, keeping it on track or even steering it in a different direction. Sometimes a playwright will write your pauses for you in parentheses but sometimes they won’t. In that case, discover where to place them. Pauses can be used in combination with word stress or between sentences and they do not need to be very lon