Becoming an Actor: Rehearsal Techniques

"Practice as if you are the worst, Perform as if you are the best"

Most actors do not know how to properly rehearse. Or they know how to rehearse but are too lazy to put in the required work needed to develop their character. The process of rehearsing for a performance begins the moment you get the part. As soon as you find out who you are, it is your job as the actor to study your character. This isn't as hard as it may sound. For example, if I were playing Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, I would go home after finding out I got the part and watch the movie. Throughout the movie I will study how Lumiere moves around, his mannerisms, the way he talks and with what ind of accent, and much more. You have to truly know your character before you can get up on the stage and rehearse.

Now of course, you won't know everything by the first rehearsal. This is when you will get your script and you must further your research of your character with script analysis. The rehearsal process is where you will experiment with what you know about your character, making discoveries an learning from failure. You must know how to explore various rhythms and how to commune with yourself, the environment, your images, the text, and with other actors. Some directors will give you freedom through organic blocking which is when the director gives the actor the freedom to move about the stage and set himself for each scene. Most directors will have a general idea of what they want you to do and where they want you to be. However, as the actor you can play around with the direction they give you and make it your own as long as it does not completely go against what the director wanted.

The rehearsal process does go beyond researching the character. This is when you will need to learn your lines. Memorizing lines is very tough for most people so it is good to come up with your own method of learning them. The way I can learn them is to just read them over and over again. When I have them, or I think I have them, I get a friend to read the other characters lines and I'll recite mine at the proper time. Going back to the Beauty and the Beast example I used earlier, if your character has an accent, you will need to nail that down. If it is an accent you are unfamiliar with the best way, usually, to learn it is to surround yourself with that sound. For the part of Lumiere, watch the movie and listen to how he says each syllable. Listen to the way he roles some of his letters and distorts some of the endings to words. Also don't be afraid to practice this.

Remember that rehearsal for the actor actually begins the moment you get the part. You'll also need to know how to work well with others because over the next couple weeks or months or however long the rehearsal process is for your particular show, you will be in close interaction with other people especially those characters who are really close to your character.