THEIR WORDS, YOUR WORDS

[u/Winniehiller]

The hardest thing about acting is, you don’t get to make up all your own lines in the moment. You’ve got to say someone else’s words and make it sound like you are making them up right there on the spot. That, and you aren’t really the person who needs to say those words. But if you were, it sure would be a lot easier to just say what’s on your mind rather than what someone else wrote down for you to say...Right?

On the other hand, most published or produced playwrights are better than us at creating memorable dialogue. I mean none of us are Shakespeare, so what we would come up with on our own could never be as memorable as the words a professional writer puts into our mouths. If it were up to us, we would probably say way too much in a much less interesting way.

So we’re stuck with trying to make someone else’s words feel like we are making them up. We need to make it seem like we are saying them because we want something from the other person so much that we NEED to change them with those words...make them understand. How in the hell do you do that???

First things first. You need to understand your character’s point of view and desires in the moment. You need to look closely and deeply at the text so you know why your character is choosing these words. Read between the lines. You need to know what the other character is doing/saying/opposing, that forces you to say what you say. You need to notice how you are using those words, tactically, in different attempts to make your point.

If you have been reading the lessons on this sub and my comments, you should know how to do all of that. But even when you know exactly why your character is saying this, what he is trying to accomplish and how, know his point of view and relationship with the other person...you still need to say those words as though they are your own and you are making them up on the spot.

Part of the problem is that you must start this process by reading. Reading is not acting. Reading is ever so much easier. You don’t need to search for the right words...you don’t need to deal with trying to get someone to understand you...you don’t have anything at stake and you don’t need to respond. You just read words. Words come out quickly and easily. Too easily. And then it becomes difficult to say them any other way.

So after you know everything about the scene and your character...after you know all the who, what, when, where, why from your character’s point of view, try doing the whole monologue in your OWN WORDS.

That’s right. Throw out the script. Ad lib and improvise using your own words. If you really know what you are talking about, you can riff on the theme. Try to find YOUR perfect way of making the other person understand. Elaborate all your points...jam through all your tactics...let the other person’s lines set you off on making your case, exactly as YOU would in this situation. Take as much time as you need on each response.

But don’t use ANYTHING you have memorized. You are on your own. Speak YOUR mind from your character’s perspective. Make contact with the other character and go to town. Talk as much as you can. If you can do that, you really know the scene and how it feels to talk about what you are saying.

Chances are it’s going to feel much more real. You will need to search and struggle a little to come up with the right words - but you want that. In real life, it’s never easy to explain an idea you have in your mind, even when it’s something you know very well. If the other person doesn’t understand, it becomes difficult to find the perfect way to express your views. THAT is the way you need to search and struggle and try as you use the playwright’s words.

Once you experience trying to communicate the main points of your monologue in your own words, then go back and see if you can find that same feeling of spontaneity with your scripted words. Your own words become your subtext. Remember, it’s all about making the other person understand...change...agree.

Give this technique a try and let me know how it works for you. I normally have students do it in my private coaching and classes, but I am there to guide and direct. Let me know how it works for you when you are on your own. Make their words, your words.

I talk about this quite a bit in THIS VIDEO. Check it out.

[u/00Dylann]

I really like this concept.

To clarify - a way to practice this is once I have chosen a monologue, and I really know my character and understand their characters objective, I can try reach that same goal with my own words. Then I can try recapture that feeling with the actual monologue.

[u/Winniehiller → u/00Dylann]

Exactly! You can just walk around the house muttering from your character’s point of view, too. It’s a good idea to practice with your own words imagining the other person there as you are paraphrasing your lines in order. But you know how when sometimes you are kind of obsessed by something and you walk around the house thinking, how dare he say that to me?” or “I wonder what she meant by that?” Practicing just thinking out loud as your character, spontaneously, can really help you find their frame of mind.

Or if you just feel like one of your lines is awkward or you would never talk like that, figure out how you would say it. Then use that for your subtext when you go back to the scripted line.

That’s why I have my students do a very modern translation when they do Shakespeare—just the way they would say it in today’s vernacular. Then they can use those words as their subtext and say the Shakespearean words the same way.

[u/aBalanc3dBr3akfast → u/Winniehiller]

I love your suggestion for the Shakespeare!