The delight is in the detail

Here are the Words of Wisdom for this week. When we are in the audience we want to engage with the characters being portrayed and to feel the emotional tides as they wash to and fro. That is the big picture. But we also need all the little pictures, the accuracy and definition that make us believe that what we are seeing is authentic. That is important too. The delight is in the detail.

So we, in the audience, need to see characters that are individual and not stereotypical, that have a way of speaking and a way of walking and a way of doing everything that they do that is distinct and differentiated. So actors need to make every word and every action particular to the character, so that every line of the script reveais more about the character or advances the plot - or both. Let your performances hold up a mirror to nature and show the physical and mental landscape of every profession and type of person.

How to achieve this? Through observation and imagination. Never cease from observing people in their lives and, not to be forgotten, draw on elements you observe in other actors' work. And remember: the delight is in the detail.