Video: Why Acting Isn’t Just About Showing Emotion

“Acting is not just about emotion - alright, don't get too angry...

There have been times when I've noticed actors eager to understand which emotion they should portray in a scene. ‘I want to express more anger here’, I’m told by the struggling actor as they bravely conjure up a bludgeoning shout or a scowling expression is then placed on their face to show their rage. But their performance is superficial because the actor has only considered what they want to show for dramatic effect, rather than studying what the character needs to see and therefore must do.

Imagine I’ve told you or you’ve decided to be angry as a character, I’m sure you could come up with something, but it’s woefully unhelpful compared to my asking you to see ‘a partner who is humiliating you in-front of your friends’.  Well now you have specific target to respond to. But even then, the feeling of humiliation may be overwhelming, but we can’t stop there, as we still don’t know how to act; only feel. And that leads us to isolation from the scene.

We may indeed feel something like humiliation, but we’d more likely react to the disrespectful partner by ‘cautioning them’ or ‘dismissing them’. We see what they are doing, and we do something in return to change them.

Picture yourself witnessing your best friend at the end of a gruelling marathon, struggling with all their might to get to the finishing line. Emotion erupts, because of your need for them to achieve this goal, because you’re concentrating on something outside of yourself. We do it even to inanimate objects. When we’ve lost our phone do we not find our ourselves ‘cursing’ the universe for hiding it from us?

But anyway, back to our poor marathon running friend.

By only concentrating on what you’d feel as they limp along, you’d like come up with a generalised emotion like ‘worry’ and get stuck there. But in reality, you'd likely experience a complex blend of emotions, including ‘anxiety’, ‘pride’, maybe ‘love’. This emotional cocktail would be as unique as a snowflake, shaped by your your friend at that specific, present moment and what you wish for them to do.

Even if the dialogue is nothing but incoherent cheers or mutterings, once you see a friend who needs support; then you know how to act.

You’d champion your friend. You encourage your friend. Maybe even carry them. Because the scene is about what your character sees and what they must do. And once we know what we must do, of course we will feel emotion, but the actor who only wants to show their emotions will be in a play of one by themselves - too concerned with controlling what is seen by the audience rather than trusting that it will be seen.

Don't put the cart before the horse. You can never explore how your character acts until you first discover what a character sees and how they see it.

Indeed, a juicy fillet steak might delight the meat-eater, but the same steak could offend the vegan. Both would feel intense emotions as the steak sits on the plate in-front of them. And yet, the steak isn’t doing nothing. It ‘seduces’ the meat eater to tuck in. And the vegan may politely ‘decline’ because they see a well meaning host who was committed to ‘pleasing’ their dinner guest, as the steak calls to their conscience to ‘remember the life of the animal it once was’.

What we say, what we feel, what we do are seldom the same thing. And it’s how we act that defines who we are and our humanity.

Your could say, it defines our character.”

To find out how you can take classes with me, visit www.andrewkeates.co.uk/teaching