I'm in an acting post sort of a mood again today, please forgive me...
There are some characters that you aren't going to be in a hurry to forget, and that you might remember for years. I have some like that. Two years ago I was Adrianna in Comedy of Errors. It was the largest role I'd had up to that point and it was on an actual stage in an actual theater. And even though I wasn't nearly as good then as I am now, I was better than I had ever been before. That character has really stuck with me, and even though I would never want to act like I did now, I loved that part and it's stuck with me.
But it's even better when other people remember your character. Two years in a row I played a character named Snickerdoodle in a play that my local librarian wrote, Cowgirl Cookie and the Case of the Missing Chocolate Chips. I don't count that among my favorite roles. I mean, it was fun, but there wasn't any blocking or anything, it was mostly just a read through without scripts :) I had a ton of fun with the play, and with my friends in the cast, but I probably wouldn't remember the part very well at all if it wasn't for the audience.
My hometown is super small, and mostly made up of people that are 60+ and have the time to come to a play. And the town is so small that the Cowgirl Cookie plays are the only plays up here. So I still have random people, two years later that will recognize me at the library or somewhere and talk about how they came to see the play. It's amazing!
That's what I want. I like remembering my own character and having amazing memories with that one, but I like it better when someone else remembers my character enough to tell me I did a good job, because means my performance was either good enough or different enough for people to remember.
For my acting readers, which one do you like better, when you remember or when they do? And for my non acting readers, what makes you remember an actor when you see a play?
What makes me remember the actors in the play is when they really speak up. Often times when I go to a play some of the characters have me leaning forwards trying to remember what was said. If an actor can also show the emotion in facial expressions and visceral emotions that is really good. Also what makes me remember the actor is their body movement. If they look comfortable and open and get into what they're saying without any action of looking frightened (unless they're supposed to look that way:) it gets me thinking and I less think of it as a play and more like looking into a story. That's just my two cents :)
ReplyDeleteI agree! I hate it when actors are super quiet. its the worst when they have important lines! and moving around on the stage is important too!
ReplyDeleteYup, you're a full time small town celebrity RuthAnna! I think I'd have to say that the characters I like more and I connected with more are my more memorable ones. I mean, I'm Cow Girl Cookie where ever I go, but I still can't get Jaquline out my head even though I'm not very popular for her.
ReplyDeleteYes I am! And so are you! That's cool! See, for me, I always find some small way to connect with any character, so I connect equally with all my characters. So I more remember the characters that I had the most fun with preforming. Corinne, The ranch hand Hannah, the tramp Katerina, the opera singer and the dance hall girl when I was younger ... Those are the characters I remember the most because I had so much fun with those.
ReplyDelete