Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
You now know how to access an authentic physicality that is connected to your emotions.
Now, apply it to a character that you are developing. Whether the character is a princess,
a teapot, or even Ophelia:
• Find the moment you want to express
• Use your acting technique to feel the corresponding emotion
• Apply that emotion to your body
• Transpose the psycho-physical knowledge to the character
For example, an actress is studying Ophelia. She knows that Ophelia is consumed by the
deaths of her father and brother, Polonius and Laertes. However, the actress has never
experienced death of this magnitude. In one particular scene, Ophelia is throwing imaginary
fl owers on her father's grave. How does the actress emotionally connect to Ophelia doing
this action? Instead of playing the amateur idea of Ophelia as a crazy young girl (running
around wide-eyed), the actress looks at each moment in the play and identifi es what Ophelia
is feeling. In this specifi c moment, the actress discovers that Ophelia is sad as she remembers
her father. She then explores how this specifi c emotion moves through her body and fi nds
her movement to be languid and deliberate because she is refl ecting on this loss. Thus, she
throws the fl owers slowly and deliberately onto the grave.
Acting II: Exploring Scene Work
“Words are like toy boats on the water.”
—Sonia Moore
Metamorphosis
, Photo Courtesy of Florida Studio Theatre;
Catch
by Chris Perry
