22/11/2023

Creating Stage Pictures Through The Text

This speech is all about Helena’s confusion about what’s happening. So, we wanted to make sure that the focus stayed with her. You’ll see that the two contenders for her love ‘flank’ her whilst she remains quite still in comparison. To do this, you could think about the lead character in the scene being augmented by the others in levels of height, mirroring eachother’s movements, creating an unnatural symmetry that makes the scene feel slightly ‘squint’ – it helps us stay in Helena’s thoughts. The supporting actors here have to be careful not to overshadow the text with their physicality. Instead, they should be generously ‘in service’ to the actor who is working on the text, helping them to find what they need in the text. They do this by not overbearing with all of their own ideas but listening to the text and offering something that might assist the lead character in the scene.

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Creating Movement From Text Prompts