001. Introducing Linda

Linda is terrified. She doesn't know whether she can act or not. It's hard to tell. I've never met anyone so nervous or self-conscious. I gave her a few theatre games to do but she froze. She finds it difficult to sight read, - not because she can't sight read but because her nerves get in the way. Because of this, I have a problem about finding the right speech for her to work on. Any speech if it comes to that. She's tight, with an almost impenetrable barrier around her. She smiles, laughs nervously - and that's that. I just want some reaction, - anything at all. Some sense of emotion. The feeling that she's willing to throw herself into a role or exercise come what may. Is it that she doesn't want to appear silly? Or is it that she's so much of a perfectionist that she freezes at the thought of failure?

I asked her to imagine that a small bird had got into the room, flying in panic around her head. Granted, it's not an easy exercise to pull off but I simply wanted to see if she could let herself go. She couldn't. She couldn't move. We talked about it and she tried again. For 3 seconds she got into it. 3 seconds! That might not seem a lot but for her it was major and I was very pleased.

Now what though? Where to from here?

002. Derek

It goes like this, (Henry from Disposing of the Body): "Do you remember a boy called Alderton? Geoffrey Alderton. We were at school together. Tall boy, ginger hair, lived near the golf course."

Simple enough. One question. The rest, statements. Derek begins: "Do you remember a boy called Alderton? Geoffrey Alderton? We were at school together? Tall boy? Ginger hair? Lived near the golf course?"

OK. Nothing particularly wrong with that. It works. But I want it said the way it's written. So, I read it out to him. One question. Then, statements. He has another go: "Do you remember a boy called Alderton? Geoffrey Alderton? We were at school together? Tall boy? Ginger hair? Lived near the golf course?"

Er...No. One question. The rest, statements. Something like this...Again I say the lines. Derek follows: "Do you remember a boy called Alderton? Geoffrey Alderton? We were at school together? Tall boy? Ginger hair? Lived near the golf course?"

Errr...And so it goes on. On and on. He can't hear it. And that's his problem. His inner ear is not attuned to what he's saying. He thinks in one way and if I ask him to change tack, he can't manage it. He honestly believes he can. He believes he's changing the lines with every repetition. But the fact is, he's not and he simply can't hear what he's doing wrong.

The difficulty for some actors is this inability to hear the subtle nuances and alterations in tone in a phrase or sentence. It's a bit like being tone deaf. It really requires quite a bit of practice to detect in your head a sudden or unexpected key-change and then to be able to speak it out loud. Derek and I persevere, until, finally...

"Do you remember a boy called Alderton? Geoffrey Alderton. We were at school together. Tall boy, ginger hair..." Great, Derek! Fantastic! Go for it! "Lived near the golf course?"

Aaaargh! Well, at least he's doing good work with his other speech, - Eric from Bouncers. A bit of a breakthrough there as he's just started to find the power and pent-up aggression and solidity of the character. That's something very definite to build on.