Lines

A director friend recently sent me a message asking for advice about how to help her students with their upcoming show. _Hi Kerry, _ Any tips on helping my students to slow down and stop rushing? There are a few spots in the show where moments are “urgent,” but I feel that the audience is going to miss things as the students rush. We do walk-throughs, I explain and ask them to slow down, but they seem to get caught up in the excitement. Or perhaps they’re convinced it doesn’t look authentic? Maybe this will naturally evolve this week as they become more comfortable off-book, but any suggestions in the meantime would be helpful. I guarantee this is not the first director dealing with students who rush their lines and movements. Your first task is to try and discover why your students are rushing their lines and/or movements. Then, you can try some of the following 12 tips and techniques I’ve used in various situations with my students to help them slow down: 1. “Slow down” might not be specific enough for your students. Try adding gestures or facial expressions at specific points in the scene to help your students focus on their full performances. Some students are visual learners, so physically demonstrating the movements you want may be helpful. Our Physicalizing Emotions article might help with this. 2. You may also want to try building in specific pauses and physical stops during students’ lines to force them to slow down. Try giving the exact counts you’d like the pause to be (for example, three seconds versus one second). Alternatively, have students try pausing for one beat for a comma or semicolon and two beats for a period, question mark, or exclamation mark. 3. Some students don’t believe us when we tell them what they’re doing until they see it themselves. Try filming students’ run-throughs and show them exactly what they are doing and how much they’re rushing. (I had a director do this to me once — it worked and I finally made the correction!) 4, You could also make rehearsal reference videos of the time(s) when students perform the scene the way you want them to, and make those the official templates of what they need to do each time. 5. If students are not fully off-book or are feeling shaky with their lines, they may be rushing to get the scene over with. Here are some tips to help students memorize their lines. The sooner they have their lines learned, the easier it will be for them to sink comfortably into the scene and avoid rushing. 6. Many students deal with nerves or anxiety, which may cause them to rush their lines or movements. Try some mindfulness techniques to help them combat jitters and see if that helps them slow down and stop rushing. 7. Try having students run their lines deliberately slowly — at half-speed or even slower. What they feel is half-speed is probably an appropriate speed for the stage! 8. If students are rushing their movements during the scene, have them try the scene while moving at half-speed or even standing still or sitting. How does that affect their performance? 9. If you find students are rushing their stage combat choreography, fight directors say that stage combat performance speed is maximum 75% of a “real” fight. Both because the two combatants need to be able to see what’s happening and the audience needs to know what’s happening. If they move too fast, the audience will miss the important moments. It’s not like on film, where the action can be sped up. Onstage, we have to suspend our disbelief in order for the action to be seen and understood. 10. Think scientifically. Have students consider what their bodies do biologically when they are excited or nervous. What happens when students feel an adrenaline spike? Explain that if they are rushing now in rehearsal, they’ll rush even more when show week adrenaline hits. Your 90-minute show may end up being only an hour! 11. Put yourself in the audience’s shoes. Sit your students down and have a frank conversation, considering the situation from the audience’s perspective. The students know the show — the audience doesn’t. The audience paid to be there and hear the story that the actors are presenting. If audience members can’t understand what’s going on, that’s not their fault — it’s up to the actors to help them understand. 12. Have students perform their scenes in front of their peers and have their peers give feedback on the speed. Sometimes having the feedback come from their friends and classmates can be more palatable to students. Alternatively, have someone who isn’t part of the show (such as another teacher) sit in on a rehearsal and watch/listen for rushing, as a neutral party who isn’t familiar with the scenes.

One of the exciting aspects of rehearsal is experimenting with the text of the script and figuring out what the characters are saying and how they should say it. Each approach to the text will differ from student to student, actor to actor, and director to director – and that’s what makes theatre so interesting! Here are three fun exercises that allow students to explore different ways of approaching their lines and thinking about the emotions behind them. These exercises can be used in rehearsal as well as in the drama classroom, for students to try different ways of presenting their characters’ lines. Exercise 1: Emphasis1. Students will select a partner. 2. Select one line from a play, or use one of the sample lines provided (found in the handout). 3. Count how many words there are in the sentence. For example, the line “Can you help me please?” has five words. 4. Write out the line as many times as there are words in the sentence. From our example, students will write the line out five times. 5. For each sentence, underline a different word. - Can you help me please? - Can you help me please? - Can you help me please? - Can you help me please? - Can you help me please? 6. Say the lines out loud one by one, emphasizing the underlined word. 7. How does the emphasis of the different words change the meaning of the line? Note the differences in tone and emotions. Exercise 2: Emotion1. With the same partner, students will brainstorm a list of ten different emotions/feelings (for example: happy, sad, surprised, angry, bored, exhausted, annoyed, ecstatic, disgusted, hopeful). 2. Using the same line (“Can you help me please?”), students will say the line out loud ten times, using the ten different emotions they brainstormed. 3. How does the line meaning change when spoken with a different emotion? Does the line still make sense? (If it doesn’t, can you think of a reason or situation where the line would be said with that feeling?) Make note of these thoughts. Exercise 3: Sliding Scale Variations1. Using the same line, explore different ranges of emotions. For example: • Loud angry (screaming in rage) versus quiet angry (death glare) • Loud sad (sobbing) versus quiet sad (tears and silence) • Loud happy (screaming in delight) versus quiet happy (fainting away) 2. Try interacting with your partner in a scene, each feeling the same emotion but to the opposite extreme (for example, loud angry versus quiet angry). 3. Try a sliding scale of emotions. If “level 1 anger” is a silent death glare and “level 10 anger” is screaming in rage, what is level 3 on the anger scale? Level 5? How about level 8? 4. Use your senses. What do the emotions look and sound like? For example: “loud angry” might involve yelling and screaming, flailing, and pacing, while “quiet angry” might involve death glares, stiff posture, and clenched fists. 5. How do these different approaches to the text affect the meaning of the lines, as well as your performance? Reflect on your explorations. Distance Learning Adaptation All three of these exercises can be practiced and performed using video conferencing programs. The focus will be on rotating volunteer performers (rather than pairing up) and having the rest of the group observe and analyze the performances. Decide whether you wish your students to report their observations verbally in a class discussion, or if you want your students to submit written observations. Exercise 1: EmphasisHave one student say the selected line out loud as many times as there are words in the sentence, emphasizing a different word each time. Observe: • How does the emphasis of the different words change the meaning of the line? • Which emphasized word makes the most effective line? Why? • If the selected line is from a play, compare the line out of context (by itself) to the line when it’s in the context of the scene. Does the same emphasized word work? Why or why not? • If the selected line is not from a play, invent a line to come before and after the line. Does the same emphasized word work? Why or why not? Exercise 2: EmotionAs a group, brainstorm ten different emotions/feelings. Have one student say the selected line out loud ten times, using the ten different emotions that were brainstormed. Observe: • How does the line meaning change when spoken with a different emotion? Does the line still make sense? • If the line does not make sense, think of a reason or situation where the line would be said with that feeling. Exercise 3: Sliding Scale VariationsUsing the selected line, have students explore different ranges of emotions. First, choose two students to try two wide ranges of emotions: loud angry versus quiet angry, loud sad versus quiet sad, loud happy versus quiet happy. Second, choose five students to try ascending the range of emotions: the first student starts with “level 1 anger” and the last student will finish with “level 10 anger.” The three middle students need to figure out how to increase their levels of emotion without going too big or too small. Then, choose five students to try descending the range of emotions, from level 10 to level 1. Observe: • How does the level set by the first student affect the rest of the students when ascending or descending the emotions? • When analyzing a script, how do you determine how big or small your emotions need to be? What factors affect your choices? • What gestures, postures, and facial expressions can help demonstrate the emotion you are trying to portray? • How do these different approaches to the text affect the meaning of the lines? Overall Observations: How does these exercises help you to become a better actor? How can you use these exercises in rehearsal for a show? How do strong emotional choices by actors make a scene or show more interesting to watch?

“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not. ~ Mark Twain Line notes are like reminders to floss your teeth – nobody likes hearing them but they keep your mouth clean. ~ Craig “I’m no Mark Twain” Mason” I’m entering tech week for my show and we just had our line notes session. A line note session, for the uninitiated, is a fun painful session where you sit down with the stage manager and her prompt script and she points out all the places you’re deviating from the written text. A real life example: “Page 24, your first speech, you’re dropping the word “yet” from the end of the line “Please don’t go.”” I say painful only in the sense that exercising can be painful. It helps you improve yourself and the work, but it’s painful nonetheless. Where a note from the director can be inspiring and push you in a new direction or a stronger choice, a line note is basically a note that says, “You’re doing it wrong.” Here are some tips to make the line note session as painless as possible. For Stage Managers• Read the list as matter of factly as you can. Think of it as a grocery list: I need eggs, milk, and you’re saying “the” instead of “a”. • Don’t apologize for the line note session or for any individual note. There’s nothing to apologize for, we’re all part of the same team with the same goal. • Don’t use the session as an opportunity to bash the actors. I so clearly remember a line note session a few years back where the stage manager took so much glee that she knew the lines better than the actors did. Of course you know the lines better than us, you’re reading them from a book! For Actors• Welcome the session. It’s important. The playwright chose those words for a reason so let’s try and say them, shall we? • Don’t get emotionally involved or take the notes personally. Accept them as you would a grocery list – “Craig, can you pick up some eggs and milk, and can you please say ‘the’ instead of ‘a’ on page 32?” • Don’t explain, don’t challenge the SM, just accept the note, circle it in your book and say thanks. • Don’t take the notes personally, they are technical notes, not evaluations of you as a performer. They will help you make your performance as best as it can be. • Don’t question the importance of the deviation. I live with a playwright and I know how much time she spends agonizing over word choices. “The” and “a” are different words and they imply different things. Consider this sentence: “You are the love of my life.” “You are a love of my life” does not mean the same thing. And FinallyNo show will ever be 100% word perfect. It’s the nature of the beast. Theatre is a living breathing thing and there are thousands of variables going on in every performance. But we should always strive to do our best. Otherwise, what’s the point?