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.