I would imagine that most of you have had the experience onstage (if only fleeting) of feeling completely in the moment – not thinking ahead to what comes next, nor judging what you just said or did. I call this experience “surfing the wave” or being in the groove. When this happens your actions and reactions occur spontaneously without conscious thought. You’re not thinking about what comes next, what you are going to say, or how you are going to say it. The cue or stimulus comes and you just naturally respond. Words come out of your mouth, expressions happen on your face, movements and gestures are triggered.
On the flip side, I also suspect that many of you like myself have, at times, found yourselves working to plan, plot or control your actions, responses, and emotional reactions. Perhaps you were consciously trying to recreate something that happened spontaneously in rehearsal, or something that got a laugh in a performance, or implementing a note from your director. Or maybe you have found yourself obsessing about a moment that just happened, or you lose concentration and realize you are on automatic pilot.
In any case, true spontaneity is a critical factor in creating a performance that goes from good to great. Spontaneity brings vitality and richness to a performance, and provides the sense for you AND the audience that things on stage are happening as if for the first time.
With that in mind, the question becomes – how can the actor consistently be in the moment onstage and allow their actions, reactions and emotional responses to be spontaneous? Here are some techniques and ideas I have acquired and used over the years.
1. Trust your character’s impulses
This is not the same as trusting or giving license to your own personal impulses. You are not the character. However, when you have done your homework on the character, how they see things, what they value, what they want, etc., you will begin to internalize the character’s impulses and they will begin to feel like your own.
2. Focus on what your character expects to happen
Your character has not read the script. They don’t know what will happen in the scene. So, keep in mind your perspective is not the same as the character’s. YOU have read the script, and you do know what happens. You, in a sense, know that there is “an elephant in the room,” but your character does not. If you try to have your character take actions to ignore the elephant, you will be trying to play a negative, and all you will think about IS the elephant. Try this instead. Look at what your character expects (or hopes) will happen that is different than what actually happens. Extending the metaphor, to get your mind off the elephant you know is in the room, play your character’s expectation that there is a mouse in the room. Find, and justify, what your character expects to find, and allow yourself to enter your character’s perspective. The more your character’s expectations differ from what actually happens the greater your character will have surprises and discoveries that support spontaneous (rather than forced or indicated) reactions. Come into the scene looking for the mouse. Then when you see the elephant you will be pretty darn surprised.
3. Stay focused on the other character(s) you are interacting with in the scene
Not only does this alleviate self-consciousness (if your mind is fully focused on the other actors it can’t be on yourself), but the more you stay focused on what you want (and expect) from the other characters, the more naturally your actions and reactions will be. Stay focused on what you want from the other character, and react on impulse to how the other character’s actions impact your objective, you can let go of the need to control or force your actions and reactions.
4. Allow yourself to relinquish control
What I really mean by this is relinquishing the mind’s desire to control things. An actor is like an athlete and a scene is like a tennis match. Thinking is much slower than physical and emotional reactions. If you think too much your adversary will slam the ball right past you. Allow your gut and body to guide you. When the other character hits that ball to you – don’t think – just go for it.
5. Allow yourself to be surprised
I don’t know about you, but I love being surprised onstage. Not just by unrehearsed things that happen, but when moments happen when I act or react in ways that seem to come out of nowhere. They don’t come out of nowhere, actually, but sometimes the smallest difference in how another character speaks to me just pushes a button – and boom – I surprise myself and the other actor with my actions and reactions. Afraid that such surprises will send the scene off course? If you have done your homework even a surprising moment should be within the appropriate interpretation of your character and the scene. And if you are playing opposite a strong actor, it shouldn’t throw them, but rather fuel them.
Related to the permission to allow yourself to be surprised, is the sense that you are prepared for anything when you enter a scene. It is the feeling that nothing can go wrong – the other actor can go up on their lines, my pants can fall down, a tech cue can happen in the wrong place – and you will spontaneously respond in character. Never ignore anything that happens on stage – use it. (Okay, once a lighting instrument fell on the stage during a scene of mine and I did kinda ignore it.)
6. Don’t edit your character
Don’t edit or judge your character’s actions and reactions. There is no one right way to act or react in a situation. Certainly any character will have a range of likely reactions to different things, but more often than not, we often make prejudgments about what we think our character would do or say in response to something Doing this can cage us into in a corner. If you believe I’m wrong then think about the times you’ve said, or thought to yourself, “but my character would never do that.” This is your mind getting in the way. A similar problem is that you may think that your character would always react in a certain way to a specific event. When this happens you are probably either indicating your reactions or playing a conventional norm that is hollow and lacking organic vitality. Your intellect will almost never beat out your gut and instincts.
7. Never try to repeat something exactly as it was done before
This is a tough one, and I admit to falling into this trap many times. When a moment goes particularly well it feels great, and then, of course, we often want to repeat it. But this can kill whatever spontaneity and vitality the original moment held. When you feel that urge to make something happen the way it once did, try to remind yourself that true organic vitality in a performance means a scene will never go exactly the way it went before. Let go of the urge to repeat, and place your focus back on the here and now. Remind yourself what your character wants and expects from the other character. Allow yourself to relinquish your mind’s desire to control and shape the scene. Stay present and allow the nuance of each moment to trigger you. Let your reactions and the moment breathe so that your performance stays fresh.
Okay. A small confession. Sometimes if I feel a loss of spontaneity in a moment, or I can’t stop trying to recreate something, I actively try to do something just very slightly different. Now I’m not talking about changing lines or blocking, or even your character’s objective in a scene – just maybe a slightly different intention, or a slight change in a pause or rhythm. Yeah, I know…this is kind of controlling things. BUT, this can often provide a small ripple that freshens up the scene. Other actors may unconsciously pick this up and then their actions change slightly. Before you know it, the scene comes back to life.
7. Summary
When you find yourself thinking about what is to come, or what just happened, gently (without judgment) guide yourself back to focusing on the here and now using the techniques listed above.
Well that’s all I have for now. I’ll probably revisit other ideas on spontaneity in the future. Please leave a comment or contact me if you have questions, comments, or other perspectives and techniques.
I feel this as an interpreter. Very much. It’s a transcendent experience!
Cool!
I appreciate your calm, logical approach. It’s a relief to know that others actos experience these issues – and there a steps that can be taken to get back on track. And actor can think, “Oh! I’m not the only one!”
Thanks Jana!
Some great thoughts here, David. Spontaneity and listening may be the most important lessons an actor can learn. Early in my career, an actor I was doing a play with wasn’t bringing to a scene what I considered to be the appropriate intensity both for his character and for the scene. I felt strongly that the scene was failing because of it, and so I browbeat him offstage until he was tired of hearing me complain. The next performance he brought intensity sure enough, but it was fake, wasn’t organic to him, and the scene just bombed. Besides committing the unforgiveable sin of giving another actor notes, it suddenly dawned on me (onstage, in front of the audience that night) that he’d been giving me everything I needed all along—I just wasn’t listening. After the show I apologized, told him to ignore everything I ever said and just “bring me what you got!” I can’t describe what a complete joy the rest of the run was. I gave up all control, was present in every scene, and responded to what he was delivering, not my idea of what I thought he SHOULD be delivering.
Been there. Thanks for the comment!