A good tool for actors when trying to find the truth of a scene is
improvisation. In rehearsal take the values of the scene and use your
own words instead of the playwright's which would enable you to follow
impulses without the restraints of the play. Of coarse you then would
include the actual lines but now you can have insight in the
possibilities that can be achieved in the scene. There are film
directors that encourage actors to improvise a scene because the
spontaneity can lead to magic moments that can be captured on film. A
good sense of truth is a requirement for good improvisations as selfish
actors that try to take over the improve defeat the purpose of finding
the truth of a scene and instead bluster and overact trying to dominate
the scene. Improvisation is a creative way to write a script. There was a
time when the rights to a play that I was doing were pulled when we
started rehearsal. Instead of looking for something else to do in 4
weeks, we decided to write and perform a new play in a month. We sat
around and discussed the story for a couple of days then we improvised
every scene with a tape recorder. We were able to get dynamic exchanges
between the characters because of the conflict of different
personalities. Only the most gifted of writers can create dialogue as
rich as good actors improvising.
