07 Nov What Does Acting Feel Like?
Describing what acting feels like is akin to explaining the essence of life itself—because, in essence, it is living. The joy lies in living as someone else, not oneself. It is not about performing the character but inhabiting it. Actors usually refer to ‘getting into character,’ but alas, there is no character to get into — just some writer’s description, along with some actions and dialogue. It’s you, the actor, who transforms these descriptions into living, breathing reality, which the audience can then mold into the character. To be specific then, acting feels like whatever the character is experiencing — nothing more nor less.
Crafting Authenticity
Here, at The Heller Approach acting school, actors make decisions as to what their character is feeling and trying to achieve to create a scene that resonates and tells the story vividly. We experiment with various options until we strike the right chord. Then, it’s simply a matter of reacting to our fellow actors as if they were their character. It’s not brain surgery — no need to dissect your life or relive or live through traumatic experiences. It’s not rocket science — all you need is a working knowledge of human behavior all about you every day. It’s about the readiness to abandon rehearsals and engage in the dance of human connection with our scene partner, right then and there.
Human Connection Over Perfection
Everybody likes a sure thing, and actors are no different. Often, actors want to guarantee their perfect performance by locking it in during rehearsal. What that actually guarantees is a scene that’s dead upon arrival. Instead of a living breathing song of life to which the viewer can relate, they are treated to actors trying to sell them a pale copy of such. An audience can’t relate to a performance, they can only relate to another human being. Give them a real person (not an actor) to react to, and allow them to identify with your character and their predicament.
So, as it turns out, the long answer to the question, ‘What does acting feel like?’ isn’t any longer than the short one. It feels like life, which, of course, it is.
Link to Brad’s thoughts here: Youtube – FREE Acting Lessons: What Should ACTING FEEL LIKE?