I Don't Believe You

After discussing creating truth on stage we played a game called "I don't believe you!". We did this to focus on naturalistic acting and how to not over-act when you are on stage. I learnt that even tiny movements such as facial expressions determined whether the piece looked natural or over-acted. It also became clear that less is definitely more, making it dramatic and over the top just made the scene unbelievable and less interesting. To make it look natural it was apparent that you had to completely forget about the audience because this could distract you from the scene very easily.

I also found that if you added little characteristics such as nail biting or hair fiddling it also made the character more believable and naturalistic.

One of the people that took part in the game was Skye. His performance stood out to me because he didn't need to try again because his performance was so strong and authentic the first time. His scenario was that he just got back from the hospital where he was diagnosed with cancer. Again, Skye really showed that less is more which resulted in everyone being incredibly engaged. Instead of overacting e.g. breaking down, shouting, screaming, Skye almost acted numb. It was as if you were watching the news sink in slowly and painfully through is body language and facial expressions. He came into the room slowly and locked the door behind him, staring blankly at the wall. He then walked over to a chair and just sat there in silence with his head in his hands, not crying, just looking blank and in shock. It was so affective because you could see that Skye had completely forgotten about the audience and it was as if he was not performing the character he had become the character.