You're Complex. Right?!

 What Would Somebody Have To Know To Play You?


This is a direct quote from the wonderful acting teacher Larry Moss.

Ask yourself “What would somebody have to know to play me?”

If there was a biopic about your life, think of the long, long conversations an actor could have with you (if they were lucky enough to access to you) about all the little details of your life and the specific memories you have and the little nuanced quirks within your personality.


We’re so complex, right?!


Why then, are we so impatient when it comes to trying to get to know the human being we’re bringing to life in a scene?


In order to behave impulsively, instinctively and spontaneously in the circumstances of a scene we must first understand the scene, the circumstances, the conflict and WHY each character is saying what they’re saying. That's when you can allow the character to be fully fleshed out by your own version of each of these things. With YOUR point of view and YOUR understanding of these nuanced details based on YOUR life.


I created my ‘Mine For The Meaning’ class to teach students HOW to do this detailed level of script analysis. It transforms the work because there is a CRAFT to script analysis and it can only really be embodied through practice and repetition, repetition, repetition. 


Allow your characters to be as complex as you are, after all, it’s YOU that is playing them.


Keep up the great work


Mark :)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love Within Brutality.

  Love Within Brutality. As most of you who are members of Mark Evans Studio are aware, on September 3rd I started rehearsal for the brand new Broadway musical Tammy Faye.  After six weeks of studio and technical rehearsals we began preview performances on October 19th. We officially opened the show on November 14th. Then, on November 19th, just five days later we each got a call from management saying that our show would be closing in three weeks, on December 8th.  More than a hundred actors, stage managers, musicians, crew members and many more staff who were contracted for twelve months, will lose their jobs nine months too early.  Many people reached out to me personally, asking how I was feeling when the news broke publicly and my main response was, “I feel absolutely exhausted”.  Not just in the throw away “I’m really tired today” way but really EXHAUSTED. Exhausted and depleted of my energy, my determination, my focus, my hope, my resilience, my ...
Read more

"It's Both"

“It’s Both” Last Monday I attended the memorial of my beloved friend, and friend to many , Gavin Creel.  Gavin was a human like no other. A bright light, a joy and a relentless inspiration to myself and many others.  One of the things I appreciated during the memorial was that in addition to focussing on his successes and joys and what will ultimately be his legacy as a Broadway superstar talent, they also focussed on his occasional struggles in life. Mentioning his challenges at the memorial, was an effective way to humanize a Broadway icon and allowed us all to remember the real him and not just the idea of him. Gavin often navigated periods of deep pain and struggle and one of his mottos was the word ‘BOTH’. That in the search for an answer, remembering that two (or both) things can be true. A simple reminder that you can experience happiness and grief in the same moment. Gratitude and disappointment. Pride and jealousy.  It’s ambivelence. Meaning that multiple things ...
Read more

You gotta get it done.

  You gotta get it done Why aren’t you auditioning enough? Don’t read that as a shameful criticism (which I imagine most people would).  Focus on the word why! Why aren’t you auditioning enough? If you ARE happy with the amount of auditions, this issue of the Blog is not for you. The culture in society today, particularly through social media, is to very often make you feel ‘less than’. You’re not doing enough. You’re not traveling enough. You’re not working enough. You’re not socializing enough. You’re not posting enough….. aka YOU ARE NOT ENOUGH! So listen to me carefully. I’m not judging you. I’m asking you, WHY are you not auditioning?  And you should search hard for the answer to that question.  I am pretty sure it is something much deeper and more personal to you than “there’s just not enough work out there”. That is true but it’s ALWAYS been true and always will be and I believe we should not accept it and no longer allow ourselves to have that in our bac...
Read more