ACTING PROCESS
A Summary of Rehearsal Room Process

The basic principles explored in early Rehearsal Room workshops are as follows.

Actor Responsibilities
The actor in the view of The Rehearsal Room has two main tasks. The first one is to 'tell the story' - this is the reason the production is happening in the first place. The second task for the actor is 'to be believable'.

Telling The Story
If the story is clearly identified or labeled then generally the performance will unfold in a way that allows the story to be clearly told. The main elements to identify are …

• the beginning,
• a middle
• and the end.

OR

• action,
• reaction
• and outcome.

On some occasions a fourth element is present – the turning point. The story structure will then unfold as - beginning, middle, turning point and end. Remember when it comes to identifying the story of a scene that the real story is always … ‘what transpires between the characters in the scene’. Sometimes, perhaps often, this has little to do with what is being said.

NOTE: The dialogue itself may not be what the story is about - rather the story of the scene is 'what is unfolding between the characters while they are saying the dialogue'.

It is also true that the story of the scene has little to do with what has happened to characters in the past, or what might happen to them in the future. It is mostly about what is happening to them now.

An important part of The Rehearsal Room process is to identify the story. It is important to clearly identify the essence of the ‘text’ so that the actor is clear about choices for the ‘sub-text’. Rehearsal Room classes constantly demonstrate that clear, simple and active labels of story consistently produce believable performances. Vague labels produce erratic performances and confusing stories.

RR DEFINITION: The Rehearsal Room definition of text is – 'the dialogue the character HAS to say, the stage directions the character HAS to do and the story the actor has defined'. (SOMETIMES SOME DIALOGUE & STAGE DIRECTIONS WONT BE ESSENTIAL TO STORY)

Being Believable
Once the text has been clearly identified it is possible to put in place a sub-text that will contribute to the character's complexities while they experience the events of the story.

The Rehearsal Room’s view of process, in simplistic terms is … if the actor is actively listening and responding in a complex way to the impulses generated by the events of the moment, then the performance will be believable. (FOR MORE ON LISTENING CLICK HERE)

An important instrument that drives active listening and generates a significant proportion of intuitive impulses is the character’s “need”. This need replicates the unconscious elements of a real life character – it helps create the image that the character has both a conscious and unconscious motivation. It is a foundation element of ‘realism’ in performance. Other elements such as good levels of relaxation can help fake a performance outcome that may look quite realistic but these sorts of devices have all the attendant risks of any sort of cheating – i.e. a fairly high chance of being unmasked.

The creation of a psychological desire or unconscious mind for the character is a major element in producing and controlling a complex, real character. (FOR MORE ON BEING REAL CLICK HERE)

The “Need”
This labeling of the character’s unconscious desire is The Rehearsal Room’s way of simplifying an often-confusing task. “Need” is elsewhere labeled variously an “intention”, an “action”, an “objective” or the “sub-text”. “Need” in The Rehearsal Room context is hidden psychological desire.

If the story provides the text for the scene the character’s unconscious desire provides the sub-text.

Choosing an appropriate and functional method of labeling this "need" is also an important part of The Rehearsal Room process. The most functional labels are the ones that connect most directly to the actor’s own unconscious perceptions. They are the ones that will produce the greatest unconscious responses in the actor.

Selecting a “Need”
When selecting a “need” for a character, using Constantine Stanislavski’s phrase “I wish to ……… you” as a guide is a good way of making sure that the choice is active and simple. Simple choices are best as they are easy to implement. Easy implementation invites a higher likelihood of a successful outcome.

The “need” must be active - there is no point in picking one if it is inactive, as it won’t do anything. (CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF ACTIVE LABELS)

Checking Functionality
When you have selected a need for your character the following check list will provide guidance as to how functional that choice will be.

If the “need” is ….

A verb …… it will be active Externally focused …… it will be readable to the audience Difficult to achieve …… it will be dramatic Separate from the text …. it will generate complexity O.K. for you …… it will be playable.

This is the fundamental tool that enables quick and effective choice of sub-text. It is a uniquely simple identification of all the essential ingredients of Stanislavski process. An actor who can’t check out these fundamental elements extremely rapidly will tend not to use this checklist. Failing to use the checklist enormously increases the chance of making an ineffective choice. It is therefore essential to learn this and practice using it. For the practiced actor it takes about 10 seconds to check this list. This is a very short time to significantly increase the chances of a useful rehearsal or performance.

The Quest for Perfection
We all desire to be good at what we do and this breeds a pursuit of perfection. Experience at The Rehearsal Room and in life constantly demonstrates that chasing perfection is a destructive waste of time. Being able to consistently do the job is a much more worthwhile goal. An actor who can be consistently good (i.e. do the job) will sometimes be brilliant. The actor who constantly strives for brilliance will be terrible more often than they will be good. So, lets forget about perfection and work towards competence.

The Rehearsal Room checklist wont guarantee an effective outcome but it will significantly increase the possibility of one. A successful outcome hinges on a good balance of acting process and rehearsal process. Theory will never answer all the questions. That’s why rehearsal is essential. The value of practical theory is that it –

• makes rehearsals efficient and effective;
• it makes change easy;
• it makes communication simple and
• it makes complexity of character and clarity of story readily achievable.

The Rehearsal Room checklist works. Use it.

A Little Clarification
The essential concepts relating to “need” are …

“Permission”, “ownership” and “trust” are important concepts for an actor to understand.
Out of these ingredients a well-placed confidence can emerge. “Confidence” is also an important ingredient of performance.

ORGANISING PROCESS INGREDIENTS.
It is obviously important that the sub-text verb be separate from the text. This is one of the cornerstones of character complexity. For this to be achievable it is essential that the first element an actor should identify is the STORY. The story is what the director and the producer have hired the actor to deliver. It is of primary importance. Never underestimate the importance of the story.

The next step is to select a “NEED” for the character to carry while they experience and deal with the events and difficulties generated by the story.

A Useful Short Cut
In the case of identifying the story of a scene there is a very high likelihood that the story will be based on one of the following dramatic elements. It is highly likely it will either be –

• a battle for control
• a challenge
• a test or

In initially testing this concept out at The Rehearsal Room we guessed that it had an 80% success rate. However, after working with this formula for some time we now believe it has a much higher hit rate than that. It is a very useful tool. One thing is absolutely clear - simple story definitions produce wonderfully strong performances and complex characters. This formula (which emerged from a problem solving session with actor Paul Cousins is known as “The Paul Cousins Contribution”) is proving a very simple tool for identifying story.

Could it be too simple? Not so far. It works really well. The element that adds complexity and flexibility to this simple formula is adding the extra ingredient - ‘about what’ or ‘of’ or ‘over’. Once actors start considering that the story is –

• a battle for control about ….?
• a test of …
• a challenge over … etc

then they find that they can clearly understand the real story issues of a scene very quickly.

This approach to identifying story takes the mystery and uncertainty out of the process and allows actors to quickly get on with rehearsal. It is also enormously effective in the audition room when decisions have to be made really quickly.

The Actor Factor
Another thing that is very clear is that actors, as a group, are not great at identifying story. They tend to generate fuzzy, complicated story descriptions that are not inaccurate but are exceedingly hard to translate into performance. Putting effort into simple story definitions is very worthwhile. Rehearsal Room actors who become competent at this procedure make instant quantum leaps forward in their performance capabilities.

A Useful Short Cut
Once it has been decided which of those four options is the relevant one then it will become plain that one of the characters in the scene is the instigator of the challenge, test, seduction or battle for control.

Now that this is established there is another short cut that will help sort out the storyline for the opposing character. This is also simple and remarkably effective. If a character is pursuing one of the above options (challenge, test, seduction or battle for control) then there are only two options for the opposite character. They will either be –

• doing the same thing back (i.e. contesting the challenge, test or battle for control) OR
  · they will be resisting, avoiding or denying the challenge, test, battle for control or seduction.

Read that again, because it looks a little more complicated on the page than it actually is. There are in fact only two options – to do the same thing back OR resist, avoid or deny. THIS IS A VERY EFFECTIVE STORY FORMULA. This one works almost 100% of the time.

The only loophole to avoid is to recognize the fact that there will never be a scene where both characters are endeavouring to seduce each other, for there is no drama in these two elements – only resolution. Drama requires conflict and tension and that is not the way to get it. If this appears to be the case (i.e. that the story is about two characters trying to seduce each other) then one of the characters must be resisting avoiding or denying. If that doesn’t appear to be the case then the most likely story structure will that it’s not a story primarily about seduction but rather a story about testing. That is two characters ‘testing’ each other to see if seduction is possible OR testing to see if they are loved etc. Scenes based on one character testing another are very common dramatic structures and generate enough difficulties to sustain and develop on-going dramatic tension over considerable lengths of time. (This short cut is named the "Kirsty Lee Principle" after the actor who discovered it.)

Surprises
The other foundation element of the performance process is the ability to play “moments of surprise”.

The Rehearsal Room definition of surprise (based on Stanislavski’s wonderful concepts) is that “a surprise is anything that interrupts the character’s need”.

This means that “need” doesn't function while the surprise is happening. A new “need” may result from experiencing a major surprise.

Stanislavski says that surprises have four phases –

• the event phase;
• the identification phase;
• the assessment phase - is it 'good for me' or 'bad for me' (which is the moment of fight or flight)
• and the final phase, where the choice to either return to the interrupted “need” is made (this is the most likely of outcomes) or a new “need” is selected.

The Rehearsal Room believes that all moments of surprise are connected in some instinctive way to our Centre of Gravity. Centre of Gravity should be an inherent part of every moment of surprise.

COLOURS
The character’s “need” may be coloured in different ways. The colour of a “need” often changes after a moment of surprise.

The colour is the way that the character is going about pursuing their “need”.

A character might be doing this “happily”, “gloomily”, “sadly”, “intelligently”, “manipulatively”, “dominantly”, “flirtatiously” etc. Colours are best labeled as an adverb. It is often the way the character wishes to be perceived by the world.

Rehearsal Room Fundamentals
These are the fundamentals of Rehearsal Room process. They have been organised this way because of many years spent auditioning actor’s who can do a fantastic job at emotional memory and getting in touch with their feelings BUT CAN’T DELIVER A BELIEVABLE STORY. The Rehearsal Room process has been developed this way after years of auditioning so many actors who have done an enormous amount of preparation on the character’s prehistory BUT CAN’T CHANGE QUICKLY. These principles have become the priority because I have seen so many actors whose careful and intelligent preparation meant that they couldn’t possibly OPENLY LISTEN OR PLAY TRUTHFUL SURPRISES BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS KNEW WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO DO NEXT AND I COULD ALWAYS SEE THEM ACTING.

Rehearsal Room process is targeted at producing actors who –

• trust themselves to listen openly all the time;
• who genuinely don’t know the future and so always make real choices;
• who keep me on the edge of my seat because they consistently play fantastic moments of surprise;
• who can take direction, make big changes, and be instantly believable AND
• who always consistently deliver the story because that’s what they have been hired to do.

THERE ARE OF COURSE OTHER IMPORTANT INGREDIENTS. OBVIOUSLY THE CHARACTER’S LIFE EXPERIENCE WILL HAVE A HUGE EFFECT ON ANY CHOICES THE CHARACTER WILL MAKE. SO, CREATING AN ACTIVE PRE-HISTORY FOR A CHARACTER IS A VERY IMPORTANT BUT NOT PRIMARY GOAL. ACTORS, I BELIEVE, NEED TO HAVE SOLID FOUNDATIONS TO THEIR PERFORMANCE PROCESS TO WHICH THEY CAN ADD EMBELLISHMENTS. TOO OFTEN I SEE THAT IT IS THE OTHER WAY ROUND – LOTS OF TRICKSY SUPERFICIALITIES WHILE THE SOLID FOUNDATIONS OF A CLEAR STORY AND SIMPLE BELIEVABILITY (WHICH ARE THE TRADEMARK OF THE PROFESSIONAL ACTOR) ARE MISSING.

Finally – relax, trust and enjoy.

Understanding breeds confidence – confidence breeds trust – trust breeds ownership – ownership allows the intuitive impulses to work freely.
Travel well.

First published May 2003 updated January 07.

Copyright © The Rehearsal Room 2003. All rights Reserved.

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