» weston http://geoffrey.com.au Mon, 22 Aug 2011 06:28:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 15 Things a Director Can Say http://geoffrey.com.au/2009/12/15-things-a-director-can-say/ http://geoffrey.com.au/2009/12/15-things-a-director-can-say/#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:23:33 +0000 edwin http://geoffrey.com.au/?p=208 There’s no such thing as a bad actor. There are plenty of awful directors though. When a performance isn’t working, it may seem like the Director didn’t “reign it in enough” or, conversely, didn’t “push enough” (although in Australia – the latter rarely happens). Most of the time, a poor performance is a result of poor listening skills. Actors don’t just listen with their ears. A good actor listens with their entire body. Here are some great things for a Director to say when things aren’t working right.

  1. Keep it simple
  2. Just talk and listen
  3. Play off her energy
  4. Communicate
  5. Stay with each other
  6. Let yourself hear what she’s saying
  7. Watch her eyes
  8. Just talk and listen
  9. It’s okay to relax
  10. Give the lines to each other
  11. Let yourselves connect
  12. It’s okay to engage and be affected by her
  13. I like it when you come off each other
  14. You can pay attention to each other
  15. Don’t say the lines until you feel like saying them

This list is taken from Judith Weston’s Directing Actors (p86)

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