Monday, September 05, 2005

Subtexting for the Tricksy Characters

ANNOUNCEMENTS
  • Please note the updated schedule (post before this one)
  • Please make sure you've read the post down there about subtexting ... I'd love to see some comments.
  • Most of you are sailing along just fine with 2 comments a week. Some are falling behind, however. Excuse my OCD-ness on this, but you need to be on the blog. Trust me. =)
Work every day on memorizing your monologue. Yes. Every day. Even the busy ones. 10 minutes is enough. Otherwise, you're going to be so much TOAST when you try to do your workshop next week!

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Subtexting ... What Else Can It Do?

OK, so you're hopefully sold on the idea that you need to understand the subtext for your monologue ... and that you can have some fun creating it.

Alicia brought up a great point down there somewhere that characters might have their own moments of "acting" within a scene. How do you subtext that?


For example:
THE SCENE:
Jane thinks Bo is a jerk. But she treats him nicely to his face because she wants him to invite her to his big party at the end of the year.


Possible Subtext:
Bo is SUCH jerk. I can't stand him. But I want to use his interest in me to get what I want: an invitation to the party where I can then hang out with James, the hot guy.

The actor has to communicate:
1) Jane thinks Bo is a jerk
2) Jane acts nice to Bo and he believes her

So, the actor's WORDS need to be all nice & friendly. And when Bo is looking, she's nice to him
And the subtext proves that Jane, the character, is actually "acting" in this scene: she "acts" like Bo is hot stuff ... when actually, he's not.

question:
If YOU were playing Jane (guys, you'll have to just pretend for a minute that you're a girl ... yes, I know it's hard ... stop whining about it), how would you get across to the audience that Jane is lying?

11 Comments:

At 3:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

umm jane could be sarcastic when talking to him but hint about it more to the audience than to him, like roll her eyes behind his back towards the audience or something along those lines.

 
At 3:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jane could be all nice and friendly when talking to Bo, but anytime she talked to anyone else about Bo she could say mean things about him or anytime she had an audience "aside" she could roll her eyes, act impatient, ect...
Bethany

 
At 8:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm with the two up there... or she could also say something VERY rude and sarcastic to his face.. and really mean it... but then be like"oh... I'm just kiddin- " and act all flirty ect. when actually... she's the most verbally abusive person in the whole scene...

 
At 5:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i think that i would say things that can be taken ether way. say it with a smile but not really mean it.

 
At 5:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think that if I were Jane ( akward as it is) I would probably let the audience know that I hate bo by facial expressions.Like I could flick him off when his back is turned or something, muahaha.I do think Taylor was on to something with the whole eye rolling thing but I can't roll my eyes because it still hurts too much. In short I think the best way to show secret disdain is to do everything I do when I'm around__________.

 
At 7:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

well i would prbly be all like flirty with bo but not too flirty, b/c i just can't do that all that well, but still act kinda frustrated/annoyed but not make it obvious, like be sarcastic maybe, but play it off like a joke all at certain things he does and roll my eyes when he's not looking and stuff like that. pretty much what all the girls said up top. i would act like i'm being really nice to him but act differenty behind his back (at like i'm holding a pistol and 'shoot' at him when he's turned...)

 
At 9:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sigh occasionally when Bo's not looking at me, tap my foot, ya know, and all that other "this is not where I want to be right now" body language. Poor Bo. :-)

 
At 9:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My smiley got decapitated! Let's try again...ready? :-)

 
At 9:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with everyone else. If I was Jane I would probably, be sarcastic and roll my eyes behind his back, but be overly sweet to his face. Rebekah

 
At 10:22 PM, Blogger lorojoro said...

Good ideas, you guys. You're thinking ... that's good =)

Apply that thinking to your monologues ... consider how your body language can communicate meaning ...

 
At 4:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i agree with sam and taylor your facial expressions are very important, 'caues thats like one of the mager ways we show emotion but somtimes people don't catch the rolling of the eyes, so thoes people are lost. but our body language also says alot

 

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