Three things directors notice
Theater is fluid. And it’s ever evolving. There’s almost no black and white stuff about it. That’s what makes it tricky, that’s why people are often afraid of it, or write it off. For the most part there’s no hard and fast rules. But with that said… there’s rules! OK, OK, what I mean is, there’s a lot of stuff people agree on, or count on. I say all this because this article isn’t the be all and end all. But it’s good advice that can get you somewhere.
As a director, and an actor, I can tell you there are things that make you stick out and get remembered by a director. And like I always say, “the audition is never over“.
1. Consistency–or lack of it
Actors have to make choices with their characters and bring that into rehearsal. To be clear, rehearsal is a time for experimentation, and getting the feel for your character and the scenes. Things can change and grow during this time–but within reason. If you make a choice with your character and after a week or so it morphs or grows into something else, something that works, that’s great. But if you come in there bringing something completely different at each rehearsal that’s another. Let’s say you’re doing a dramatic monologue and one day you come in delivering the lines very quietly. And the next day you’re screaming your lines and running every which way. Then another day you’re curled up in a ball and crying. That’s an exaggeration (although I’ve seen actors come close to stuff like that). But if you’re doing that, it just comes off as doing flashy things for the sake of showing off, and you’re not really thinking about your character. And usually that’s exactly what it is. It’s annoying, and it tells the director you can’t approach a character. Instead, make a choice about your character, and let it unfold. With the work of your director and fellow actors. If something doesn’t work, you and your director come up with something that does.
2. Not being directable
You may try something in rehearsal and it just doesn’t work. Or, it could be better. Or it doesn’t go along with the director’s vision. Sometimes what an actor is doing is not bad, but it’s just not good. Or all of the above. It’s a director’s job to work through these things, and it’s an actor’s job to listen to them. (Yes, there may be disagreements between an actor and director, but that’s a whole different article!) But if you’re an actor who knows how to take notes, or make adjustments, or discuss the objectives of the character, directors will notice and appreciate it. And it makes things so smoothly. It’s not as easy as it sounds and getting good at it can take time. But it’s worth it.
3. Not knowing the whole play
Think you don’t have to know much about a scene you’re not in? Think again! You may be playing a complex character… but you gotta know why that character is complex, even before it’s revealed why. In the beginning a character may have a strong reaction to something someone did or said, and the audience doesn’t know why. The reason your character reacted that way may be revealed later in the play by another character, even if you’re not in that scene. So if you haven’t read that scene, how would you know? Here’s what I’m getting at, and I can’t believe this has to be said, but you need to read the whole play. And know the whole play well. Otherwise you can’t analyze it. I know it sounds like I’m exaggerating but I’ve seen actors think that scenes without them don’t apply to them. You don’t have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the script, and it’s ok if you don’t pick up everything. In fact, I can think of roles I’ve played where in hindsight I think “damn, why didn’t I do such and such”. But you need to do the work and know the play as a whole. Just because the audience doesn’t know the whole play before it’s done, you the actor still have to know. Otherwise, you can’t take them on the journey of the story. Thankfully, plays do have a readthrough of the script at the beginning of the rehearsal, with everyone present, but you still need to be knowledgeable about the play as a whole after the fact.
BONUS ITEM! Show the director what they didn’t know they needed!
I’m gonna throw in a bonus item here, because it’s a really good story. One time I was directing a staged reading of Pariah, a short play by Strindberg. It unfortunately had to be cancelled due to illness and I hope to remount it someday. Anyway, even though it was a staged reading, we still had some blocking. In the climax of the play, I saw something that just happened in the moment. (Or maybe the actor had thought about it a little beforehand, I don’t know.) But the villain of the story circled around the other character like they were a cat and a mouse. To be clear, it was nothing dangerous or anything that made them feel unsafe. But the character moved away from villain and the villain kept moving toward him until he was up against the wall. They played off each other and it worked. When this happened, I nearly fell outta my chair. It wasn’t something I planned, it wasn’t something I anticipated–and I loved it! And it remined me of a note I once has in a class: show the director what they didn’t know they needed! You can do this in a rehearsal or an audition! But knowing when and how, that’s the tricky part. But it starts with the three things I just listed. Show ’em what you got–after you do the work!
