Directing, 4th Edition

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20 ACTING EXERCISES

With A Text

These exercises, which develop important skills at interpreting texts, work best if you draw scenes from a strong play. Though it won’t be cinematically conceived, it will have plenty of potential for your cast. I particularly like Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter because it maintains a wonderfully dark disparity between what the characters say and what they think. Avoid broad comedy; it begs for a live audi-ence, and you don’t want your cast fishing for laughs. Pick shorter scenes so there’s time and energy for proper discussion.

SCENE BREAKDOWN

Director and actors should read the whole play and then do a scene breakdown on their own. The object is to determine at every important juncture ...