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'If' is perhaps the most
useful word in an actor's vocabulary. Stanislavski believed that 'If' is the key that opens up the door to imagination. As actors we are often required to play characters whose lives and personalities are far removed from our own. Kings, Queens, normal happy people etc, and some how we have to find a connection. To play a knife-wielding maniac doesn't mean we needs to find inside ourselves some latent homicidal tendencies to be convincing, but we do need to reach some sort of understanding, some sort of empathy with the character for the portrayal to feel right. Let us assume we are all well-rounded happy individuals, if that is the case how do we make this connection. We use the magic 'If'. There may be a thousand reasons why this character is a knife wielding-maniac. As a child we were loved and cared for but what would we be like now: - 'If' our father was an abusive drunk and our mother was a crack addict. How would we feel about the opposite sex: - 'If' at some tender age, we'd been humiliated by a boy or girl with whom we had fallen in love with and completely trusted. 'If', can provide you with the conditions and circumstances that can lead you to a greater understanding of the motives and thought lines that drive the character you are playing. Build the history of a character, and try and build in your own personal experiences, adapting them using the 'If', in an effort to get closer to the feeling you require. Mostly a play or film only provides a snap shot of a character; it is up to the actor to fill in the blanks. |
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