THE PRO-FILE

ACTING IN A SERIAL (PART TWO)

In part one of these four interviews Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher discussed establishing the relationships with an on-screen family and the importance of being open to change when working in serial television.

This is the second part of four interviews discussing their view of the actor's process in fast turn-around television.

Richard: When you first arrived at 'Neighbours" you said you realized that you would have to get on with 'asking questions'. So what questions did you know you had to ask?

Alan: When Directors would 'block a scene' or 'set up the scene'…if you thought that they wanted you to do something for a particular reason you might ask them (just) to be absolutely sure. Because I have often seen actors being asked to do something and they wouldn't know why - (because) they were never told. So they wouldn't do it a second time. They wouldn't do it correctly and we would have to do a retake.

To me this is just technical skill. If you are asked to do something for a reason and you don't know the reason it's best to try and find out why because you have a better chance of becoming part of the unit.

Not everyone likes to work this way. A lot of people think that the actors should pay no attention to the technical side and absorb themselves in the performance. But because of the speed we work at, I do believe that the actor needs to have a third eye if you like on the demands of the medium to help the Directors and the Camera People and the Sound People do their job or else you could be there all day. You will get a wonderful performance but you will have to do that wonderful performance seven times. But, if you paid a bit of attention and asked the right questions you will only have to do that wonderful performance twice. And so I suppose imbuing yourself with a little bit of technical knowledge as you go is a good thing. I'm not talking about watching the cameras all the time. I'm talking about just being aware that you do have to be a little bit closer to that person for that particular shot. So don't keep wandering in and out.

Richard: Keeping a balance of those two forces is probably one of the most difficult challenges I think.

Jackie: Indeed. You can see actors becoming too technical.

Alan: One of the reasons we work together well is that we can make suggestions to each other. Now a lot of actors are a bit coy about doing that but we have a shorthand, which we have developed over time.

Jackie: Which goes something like - 'now that stinks'.

Alan: "That stinks", or…Or perhaps a little faster don't you think.

Jackie: Are you really going to say it like that?

Alan: In a sense, some people might look at it and say 'my god they are insulting each other'. I suppose you have to develop very quickly an understanding of how to talk to people, what is disrespectful and what is not. But don't waffle around sort of trying not of offend every body and waste valuable time.

Jackie: But I really do believe that you can do work this quickly and retain your ethical feelings about being an actor

Richard: Your process.

Jackie: Absolutely, that's right. It's a different discipline. You have to find a way to the truth quickly. But I think that's possible. Alan: And in fact in some ways it's more possible quickly, because if you actually abandon those other things you can actually be more open to the minor things.

Jackie: Sometimes an episode will be under time, we'll be handed a scene and
told we'll be doing this in 15 minutes. So we quickly learn, learn and we have our adrenaline level a little higher, our concentration is a little higher, our focus is a little higher.

Alan: The scene is about character, not plot, because no plot needs to be explained. They just need to fill in, so they will write just about us.

Jackie: And they are often the best, because we've had to be really focused and
spontaneous and energised and we've come away saying 'gee, that was really fun, that was good'.

Richard: Yes they are great fun. They are good for Directors too because you haven't got time to think about them either.

Jackie: Yes, yes.

Richard: One of the reasons that I often stop actors from saying to another actor "Will you do this?" is that they are not actually helping each other. What they are saying is, "If you do that, I won't have to listen and I can just do the thing that I've prepared'.

Jackie: That's different though. Yes, that's a one-man show. That's just different…no its more about if you do that, then I can move there and we can get that shot.

Richard: So there is a lot of technical stuff.

Jackie: There is a lot of technical stuff, yes there is.

Alan: There is also the artistic level. If you are rehearsing a play, you might spend a day in the rehearsal room working on a scene. The Director will make suggestions and the actors will make suggestions and say, "Why don't we try this as though we have just had some terrible news come through" or something like that - so you layer it and give yourself different pointsof concentration and there will be lots of different ways of finding the work. Of course you can't do that in television because there's 20 minutes a scene. Rehearsal time is 20 minutes…blocking 10. A couple of runs and you are going to run out of time very quickly. So in a sense we often will make a suggestion about layering something we might be able to bring into the scene and just say 'let's just try that'.

Jackie: Yes.

Alan: And sometimes we may not even think to consult the Director about that we may just for ourselves examine the possibility of doing the scene in this frame. Sometimes Jackie and I will deliberately just look at each other and go 'Ad libbie-over-lappie', knowing that what the scene actually needs is for the naturalism of a married couple who just don't listen to each other.

Jackie: Just talk!

Alan: They just keep talking over each other.

Jackie: Much like we do now. But it works and its what couples do, you know, its right for those scenes.

Alan: So there is an improvisation aspect to all this as well. There will come points where you've done your preparation and the Directors have given their thoughts, but there is a slightly improvisational thing where you allow in the possibility of something different. And when something different does happen and you let it go.

No. 3 on my list is 'let it go'. Because the number of times you do a take and you have to move on and you know you had a bit of a fluff in there. You say 'can you use that line from take one' and they say that they probably can and you know they won't and you have to let it go. You have to realize that you are here in the continuum and that no one sitting at home really has time to see that tiny little fluff and go 'how bad is he' because it is not a feature film, it is not a condensed 90 minutes of your work, its, this incredible continuum of a motion that the audience becomes involved in.

Jackie: But all those things too about keeping it fresh. We have been doing this for five and half years and we still find maybe three or four scenes and say, 'somewhere in those three or four scenes lets tell a story about you've lost your wallet'. That's not in the script not there for anybody but we will say 'let's try and lets see if we can find a couple of moments that refer to something that is just a little thing for us'. You know…it makes it richer.

Richard: Can I ask, how early did you start playing those games?

Jackie: Pretty early.

Richard: That was the familiarity that you had. It can be a bit dangerous, can't it. As a Director you can be looking at stuff and wondering 'Where are the actors going with this scene'. Isn't about…..'?

Alan: That's the thing. That's the crucial thing. And once again there's this thing about leaving the ego behind is when you come up with business. When you come up with ideas, you come up with fun playing things to amuse yourself to keep your own energy up. Because you have been there have been there for ten hours and you've hit the wall once and you are being a bit silly and childish because we all have to do that to keep our energy going.

Sometimes the Director will come along and sort of go, 'this is terrific, now can we start telling the story'. And it really isn't about the golf ball rolling under the couch, its actually about the fact that Libby has just broken up with her boy friend and can we focus onto that. And you have to pause...

Jackie: That's fine too.

Alan: Laugh at yourself and realize what you are doing.

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