Ask Judith: Submission #10

Submission Number: 10
Submission ID: 94
Submission UUID: cd36852d-e6dd-43c2-a4b0-be886665b72a
Submission URI: /web/ask-judith

Created: Thu, 09/09/2021 - 10:01 AM
Completed: Thu, 09/09/2021 - 10:01 AM
Changed: Tue, 12/26/2023 - 12:58 PM

Remote IP address: 66.212.210.82
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Webform: Ask Judith
Submitted to: Ask Judith
ROBERT
Hi Judith!

Hope you're doing well! I'd like to ask your opinion on this idea. Since we can't expect an actor to re-create a moment we loved in rehearsal by simply requesting a re-do of the result, what if we ask the actor what she was thinking of in that moment, writing it down so as to be able later to re-enact the effect by re-enacting it's inner cause (the thought or feeling that originally inspired her)?
Thank you Robert. One of the skills that I think is so helpful for directors is to be able to "mirror back" to the actor what they were doing - but in playable terms instead of result terms. The thing is that when actors do their very best work - the work that directors want them to replicate on the set - they often have NO IDEA what they were thinking - because they were in the moment! So it can be helpful if the *director* can make a note, during a rehearsal or casting session, of what they liked. For example, perhaps that the actor was *demanding* instead of *begging*. Or maybe the actor was playing the scene "as if" it was an intimate moment even though it takes place during a business meeting. It takes a lot of experience (and trial and error!) to be able to develop this skill. That's why I strongly believe that directors should develop their craft with "practice rehearsals" before they use any of the techniques that I suggest in my book - or they come up with themselves - on a professional set. Best wishes, Judith
Yes

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  • “I took a seminar with an acting teacher named Judith Weston. I learned a key insight to character. She believed that all well-drawn characters have a spine, and the idea is that the character has an inner motor, a dominant, unconscious goal that they’re striving for, an itch that they can’t scratch. I took to this like a duck to water.”

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