Fighting against emotion to find emotion
When you have an emotional scene to prep for, are you working FOR the emotion?
It’s super common to work to find emotion because emotional scenes can produce a lot of anxiety — but sometimes the fear of not getting there drives you to push for the feeling which ultimately stands in your way of discovery.
So how do you get there??
CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION
[in scene]
Hugues: I wasn’t expecting…after everything, I just put it in my mind that he was…
Sarah: Yeah, and that can probably just be left alone that line, a little bit more.
[in scene]
Hugues: I’m sorry.
Reader: That’s alright. You don’t owe me anything.
Sarah: It just feels a little bit in that section, and this is a slight adjustment, cuz it’s not bad work, we’re just talking, you know, we’re always talking the next level, right, we’re always talking the next level. It feels a little bit in this section like working for emotion rather than allowing it and fighting it to get that idea out, to get the thing out that he needs to say next.
Hugues: Right.
Sarah: He’s not trying to feel it, he’s trying to get through the moment and not break down. How does it feel to work against the emotion, to push it down, to try not to be overwhelmed by it?
Hugues: It feels, um…it feels like you’re actually moving as opposed to, you know, you just thinking you’re moving.
Sarah: What I notice is that it started to feel like, the emotional circumstances actually affected you more the more you worked against it.
Hugues: Yeah, yeah, yes, I did feel that, too.
Sarah: So the more you can keep doing that in rehearsal…don’t try to get the results of the emotion. Don’t go for the results of the emotion. That’s when all your extra business comes in, showing how distressed he is versus fighting it. Fighting it, fighting it, fighting it, fighting it, fighting it.
