Actioning and Objectives

This is an example of one of my scenes which I actioned. Though I don't particularly find actioning right for me when I am performing, it is quite a useful rehearsal task to carry out when first given a scene and you are exploring what your character is really trying to say.

I find working and focusing on your character's objectives for that particular scene as lot more beneficial for informing my performance than actioning. This is because I don't find myself remembering or looking for my actions when I am performing but I find myself focused on getting my objectives and then the actions to get my objective flow naturally.

This entire scene is really Su-Li  interrogating Michelle about her relationship with Gideon and who this mysterious Grandfather figure really is. She obviously doesn't know too much about him otherwise she wouldn't be asking so many questions. During this scene I'm really playing with Su-Lin's quality of being super curious and constantly asking questions - this is extremely evident in other scenes where she's asking Gideon about the table marks or about his father at the dinner table. She always wants to know more. This is what I am really playing towards as my objective throughout this scene - her need to know as much as possible.

Something else I found quite useful when interrogating my text, was looking and the underlying statement behind the lines - what are the characters really trying to say? This enables me to have a clear approach to my lines without giving an incorrect delivery with the wrong intention. What is my character trying to achieve by saying this? - is a question I asked myself quite often.

It was very useful preparing my text this way in rehearsals as it meant I was ready and focused on my character's objectives and my lines' intentions when we physically started blocking it and adding detail.