13 Mar Just Receive
Receiving in a scene is key to Realistic Acting
‘It’s better to give than to receive,’ goes the old axiom. But in the art of acting, reception is king. The way to give a living, breathing, fully spontaneous performance is to truly interact with your scene partner in real-time. And the only way to accomplish that is to ‘receive’ everything your partner says and does. There is a difference between hearing and actually listening; likewise, the difference between looking and actually seeing. That difference lies in receiving the information for the first time rather than simply using it to wait for the next cue.
"Unlocking Authenticity: The Power of Receiving in Live Acting Engagements"
Often, actors resort to presenting a rehash of their ‘best’ rehearsal or rattling off a pre-programmed performance. They do this to ensure their performance is most effective, but in reality, it guarantees the audience will be treated to a stale rendition dead on arrival. The life of a scene depends upon the actor ‘risking’ that their audience will receive what the actors do, allowing them to ‘create’ the scene for themselves. Remember, everyone sees their own play or movie, as only each individual can render that for themselves. Instead of two actors, each waiting for their cue to regurgitate a rehearsed spiel, acting is more like two tennis players vying to win the match. All either one can really do is react to what their opponent does. And they won’t know how they’ll react until the moment they see what their opponent does.
Receiving the other actor, receiving the emotion in their body, and allowing the character to respond in the moment are an actor’s best practices on any stage.
More on Brad’s thoughts here: Youtube – The Heller Approach Raw: Just Receive