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Originally Posted By: Faldage


As for lay vs. lie, in my experience that's the way most people say it these days. It doesn't seem to me that your job as an actor is to be an arbiter of word choice.


We all have our quirks and foibles, and many of them are pretty harmless when we indulge them. One of mine is to be word-perfect in my delivery of lines in a play. I scarcely think that a rare act of rebellion constitutes being an arbiter of word choice.

In my experience, directors are fairly free with changing words, deleting or transposing sections of dialog or whole scenes; some actors paraphrase liberally. I'm not terribly ashamed of altering one little vowel sound.

Avy #198391 03/19/11 09:57 AM
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Originally Posted By: Avy

Peter, you said there were places where you were uncomfortable with the playwrights choices in dialogue; has there been any instances where you were uncomfortable with the playwright's choice of action for the character? Have you ever had your study of a character not fit one action that the writer has him do.


Being uncomfortable with an action is a far cry from not having it fit. If the play is going to work, then all of a character's actions have to fit, no matter how convoluted the shaping process. It's my job, with or without the director's help, to figure out how to make it fit. It doesn't have to be rational: the character may not be rational; but the actions have to fit the character, the character has to fit the actions. If I can't justify my character's action, then I'm not reading the character right. That, in conjunction with figuring out how the character says the lines, is far more work than the memorization of lines or blocking.

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Talking about plays, acting and getting words perfect, Peter
Luke thought you might be interested in this.....

NEW TURBO ENTABULATOR  



Last edited by Candy; 03/22/11 12:11 PM. Reason: re posted data
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Interestingly, that link takes me to a Gmail error page; however, a Google search found it. There are several versions to choose from, but it's a rather nicely done bit of work, whichever you choose. The fellow has done his homework on getting the lines right, but I think he needs to spend more time coordinating the parts he mentions with the diagram and the model. sorry, but I've been in directorial mode for the last several weeks, and we're getting down to the nit-picking stage.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I enjoyed it.

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Originally Posted By: Tromboniator
The fellow has done his homework on getting the lines right.....



And so have you.

I don't know why the link isn't working because it did two days ago...maybe its because it came from my email, I don't know wink
but glad you enjoyed it. As soon as I saw it I said 'Peter should see this'.

I have tried to fix above post/link

As an actor..it must be the hardest to deliver a 'deadpan' performance and carry it off.

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I think of teleprompters.


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Originally Posted By: Candy


I have tried to fix above post/link

As an actor..it must be the hardest to deliver a 'deadpan' performance and carry it off.


Thanks for fixing the link: I liked that version more than the ones I watched last night, especially the second speaker's reference to a WUPD2 (whoop-do-doo). Apparently those people recorded versions for a lot of different companies. Luke, they may have used a teleprompter or similar aid, but as often as the description of the device was recorded, I would guess that the fellow knew his stuff. It's difficult to pull off some of those nonsense words and phrases without great familiarity.

Yes, Candy, delivering ridiculous material is quite a challenge, particularly if it still seem funny after many repetitions. It's hard enough if an audience starts laughing, but if a fellow actor loses control (unforgivable!) it's a severe test. I would think that doing a performance for video would be difficult because those off camera would not be under the same constraints as those on, so that even if they managed to stifle audible outbursts, the actors could still see their physical responses.

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Sorry for the mislead. With teleprompters I was speaking
more of politicians, and we know they don't rehearse.


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Originally Posted By: Faldage
[quote=TheFallibleFiend]

Personally I find double spacing between sentences in proportional fonts much easier to read.


"Hmmmmm..." Sherlock Holmes said puffing on his pipe. "She's in her fifties...vision so telling..."

Last edited by Cowboy_Monkey; 04/28/15 03:16 AM.
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