"The Japanese say you have three faces. The first face you show to the world.
The second face, you show to your close friends, and to your family.
The third face, you never show anyone.
It is the truest reflection of who you are."
I feel that the second and third face is what actors and directors aim to capture for a naturalistic performance- these are the faces that may only be surfaced when at home and considering the setting of my chosen scene in Look Back in Anger (being the final scene) this concept became something I wanted to explore with more depth throughout my rehearsal process as the character on Helena.
The characters in the play despite some complexities do all have the types of relationships in which they can relax and live intimately with each others presents and it's with these types of close relationships that enable characters to let go and be free from their over-animated and over-enthusiastic personas. That may be more commonly found in the 'first face'.
To put this into practice I firstly made a conscious awareness of myself and my close friends and family whom I act so 'naturally' around. The thing that stood out to me most was the lack of fluidity in natural behaviour;
Pacing of Actions: there is a common habit with actors that is sometimes nothing to do with inexperience but we (us in training particularly) struggle to comfortably let a line just linger for a while; its difficult stop our 'inner monologue' from panicking "its your line, they think you've forgotten! Just say it... say it now!" Because we are still being schooled in the profession, tutors, classmates and even ourselves don't trust that we've got the whole 'line-learning' thing completely covered, and understandably so. Most of the time it's never perfect, but this can actually sometimes ruin a scene, when one wants to just create a moment for their character, take time with a reaction or explore an emotion it is often misinterpreted as a forgotten line so after a classmate has whispered or covered the line for you that moment has gone.
After all, when we're given a script our job is to speak the words, but for me it's a hindrance to the performance process when those words are written all over our faces until we've said them. Sometimes when I have been watching actors, myself included I can predict from their physicality, facial expression and speech who has the next line or who hasn't yet finished a monologue etc. and so when comparing this false portrayal of our nature with how natural realistic conversation happens the latter has a quality of spontaneity and organic reaction that I want to practice for my performance in this project and definitely others in the future. Taking time to live with the thought process of the character is a skill I wish to develop because I just feel the emotions are more raw and relate to Stanislavski's intention.
The characters in the play despite some complexities do all have the types of relationships in which they can relax and live intimately with each others presents and it's with these types of close relationships that enable characters to let go and be free from their over-animated and over-enthusiastic personas. That may be more commonly found in the 'first face'.
Adequately put, Mia from Pulp Fiction.
To put this into practice I firstly made a conscious awareness of myself and my close friends and family whom I act so 'naturally' around. The thing that stood out to me most was the lack of fluidity in natural behaviour;
Pacing of Actions: there is a common habit with actors that is sometimes nothing to do with inexperience but we (us in training particularly) struggle to comfortably let a line just linger for a while; its difficult stop our 'inner monologue' from panicking "its your line, they think you've forgotten! Just say it... say it now!" Because we are still being schooled in the profession, tutors, classmates and even ourselves don't trust that we've got the whole 'line-learning' thing completely covered, and understandably so. Most of the time it's never perfect, but this can actually sometimes ruin a scene, when one wants to just create a moment for their character, take time with a reaction or explore an emotion it is often misinterpreted as a forgotten line so after a classmate has whispered or covered the line for you that moment has gone.
After all, when we're given a script our job is to speak the words, but for me it's a hindrance to the performance process when those words are written all over our faces until we've said them. Sometimes when I have been watching actors, myself included I can predict from their physicality, facial expression and speech who has the next line or who hasn't yet finished a monologue etc. and so when comparing this false portrayal of our nature with how natural realistic conversation happens the latter has a quality of spontaneity and organic reaction that I want to practice for my performance in this project and definitely others in the future. Taking time to live with the thought process of the character is a skill I wish to develop because I just feel the emotions are more raw and relate to Stanislavski's intention.
