Improvization

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.