The actor in rehearsal is simultaneously like a kid on a playground and a bomb squad member cutting the red wire… or was it the green one?
Nowhere else have I experienced the utter joy of play and the deepest danger of humiliation.
Actors are uniquely bred to weather both of these.
Play too much and it dies for the audience (you can’t have all the fun, you have to let them it!)
Don’t risk anything and we might as well give the show a miss.
Great actors toe the line.
Andrew Scott said the job of rehearsal is for the actor to try everything they can possibly think of. He often feels humiliated, small, silly or dumb in rehearsal. And the fact that he is willing to do that, over and over again means he gets to deliver ‘Andrew Scott’ performances.
What can we learn from the actors rehearsal room orientation in other aspects o work?
