Ask Judith: Submission #12

Submission Number: 12
Submission ID: 96
Submission UUID: 31942ba5-9d92-4614-9524-0156dbf3772c
Submission URI: /web/ask-judith

Created: Fri, 09/24/2021 - 02:57 AM
Completed: Fri, 09/24/2021 - 02:57 AM
Changed: Tue, 12/26/2023 - 12:58 PM

Remote IP address: 49.195.62.113
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Webform: Ask Judith
Submitted to: Ask Judith
Name Walter Lee
Email (optional) waltex@gmail.com
Question Thank you so much Judith for this opportunity to ask you questions.

On page 135 of Directing Actors, you write, "Emotional events for characters can be wins or losses, discoveries, choices or mistakes - not realisations or reactions, which are not playable."

Can you please help me understand why "realisations or reactions" are not playable?

I would have thought that a reaction is playable?

For example, the character reacts to the other character pushing her or telling her their mother has died, for example.
Reply Hello Walter! Thank you for your question. I agree that the sentence you are quoting -- from the original edition of Directing Actors, which was published in 1996 -- was unclear. Over the years, the subject of "emotional event" has been the one I get the most questions about. And there isn't one quick answer! That's one of the main reasons why I wrote the 25th Anniversary Edition, which came out in April 2021. There are revisions to the whole book, but especially the chapters on Tools/Choices, Emotional Event, Script Analysis, and Rehearsal. Plus a new chapter added about Directing Children. I believe Emotional Event is the most important tool of the director, so I put a major effort into approaching the topic from as many different angles as I could, using many new examples. Best wishes, Judith
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