"Fundamentals"

Thoughts Provoked by an Impro Session

There are some simple fundamentals that actors can't do without. One of them is this. The actor’s aim is to place themselves in the same position that the character is in so that they can believably make the character's next choice. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING AN ACTOR CAN EVER DO FOR THEIR CHARACTER IS MAKE THE CHARACTER'S NEXT DECISION. There are two things that significantly effect that decision making process. They are -

• The character's life experience to this point
• The character's psychological desire

The 'life experience to this point' issue can result in quite an extensive research process but if you are doing an on the spot impro YOU MUST at least quickly decide where your character has come from, where they are going and why they are going there. You must do this even if your character is standing on the one spot for the whole scene. Failure to put those fundamentals in place leaves the actor in a high risk situation of having to 'act' rather than just being able to 'do'. Acting is ‘doing’ and so we MUST know as much as we can about the circumstances that will inform the character's next choice.

In addition, we also know that if under every circumstance we carry a psychological desire 'need' for a character then we increase the chances of always being complex and believable.

March 2007

Copyright © The Rehearsal Room 2007. All rights Reserved.

^