Top Ten Techniques & Tips For Actors

Some very simple and applicable advice

[Photography by Kyle Head on Unsplash]

There are countless theatrical techniques to help actors of the stage, film, and television to be at the top of their game. But for the sake, clarity, and relative brevity of this article, let’s focus on just ten.

1 — Apply To Your Craft What You Know From Real Life — And Conserve And Reserve Your Energy For Performance Implementation

We’ve all experienced good and bad times in our lives. Some, worse than others. Some, more good.

Yet, what better opportunity for the actor to then take these horrific and golden experiences, and apply them to our interpretation and/or performance of the character we have been chosen to play, or for the scene we choose to employ as an optimum audition piece.

Let’s say you’ve won the role of Blanche Dubois in a Broadway revival of A Street Car Named Desire.

Blanche has several mental issues, and she is a very sad character. If you’ve suffered a major romantic breakup, either from the recent or distant past, this is the time to recall the strong emotional turmoil you experienced (especially if you were the one who did NOT initiate the break-up).

Conversely, if you’re an incredibly happy person (which we all ultimately should be), who has been fortunate enough to live a privileged life — free from the kings and queens of pain and misery — then you’ll be forced to contact one of your sad friends if you could dip into their treasure trove of trauma and remembrance, and ask them to share their saddest hours.

Which brings up to the second part of the first technique:

Conserve and reserve your energy for performance implementation.

Essentially, we must not let the trauma (that today’s stress-ridden life almost encourages) to poison our systems to the point that we find ourselves taking drugs to relieve ourselves of the medicine that we initially were prescribed to coat the inaugural depression (from failed relationships, death of family members or friends, or financial challenges).

Save that screaming, kicking, hating, pouting, sobbing, anger, etc. for the stage, big…