Physical performance and non-verbal communication skills are areas where many actors need additional training. When reacting non-verbally to stimuli many actors resort to acting and over-emoting, as opposed to reacting truthfully to the stimuli in a simple but effective way. Anyone can learn and play dialogue to a greater or lesser extent, but it takes additional skills to understand stage directions/actions and then bring them to life in a creative and meaningful way within the context of the scene. For a screen actor, action (doing things/creating “business) comprises on average two-thirds of most scenes: and the talent is revealed in how well those tasks are handled, and how the things that a person does can exponentially give greater insight into the person performing those tasks. At the Screen Actors Workshop this an area of training that we are paying greater attention to as we’ve noticed that many actors are lacking in these vital skills.
Leave a Reply