TRUTH VS. REALITY:
It takes a great deal of trust in your partner, and a mutual respect between actors to take risks in the work. We are not playing reality: i.e., I am not actually that character (i.e., murderer), and am not actually going to hurt my partner in any way. However, I need to bring the truth of that dangerous situation to the stage so the audience believes me, and becomes involved in the story. The actor tries to empathize with the character, not just sympathize (from the outside), but to feel the feelings of the character or perform the actions of the character utilizing many methods: including physical action, exploration of given circumstances, research, observation, imitation , personalization, sense memory, emotional recall. It is always important to remember that “nobody gets hurt”,so one can take great risks. Actors must mutually agree on the choices, especially when doing any potentially dangerous physical moves or making intimate contact. Actors are the “instruments”, our bodies, our voices, our souls, and it is important to protect oneself, while at the same time, engaging the audience. The actor is using a part of himself that understands the universal truths and wants (objectives) of the human being, i.e., love, power, forgiveness, sex, control, on and on…
Remember Constantin Stanislavski’s “Magic If”…If I were that person in that situation, how would I behave?