Actions: The Actors' Thesaurus

How to Action the Text

What we say and what we think or mean don't always correspond. Take the most straightforward non sequitur: 'Would you like a coffee?' You could say that the speaker's objective is simply 'I want to offer you a drink' but, more likely, there are a whole host of deeper impulses between the two individuals operating underneath the surface. The objective is more likely to be along the lines of 'I want you to be relaxed', 'I want to show you I'm a caring person', 'I want you to stay the night' and so on.

Actioning offers an immediate way of achieving this objective. The action word is a succinct and specific transitive verb which describes what your character is actually doing to another character. As the old saying goes, actions really can speak louder than words.

'Would you like a coffee?' could be played in many ways, according to the context of the scene and the character's objective. Different action words might be seduce, welcome, dominate, befriend, admire, fear, disgrace, manipulate. The choice is virtually limitless - but must always be determined by the character's objective.

Identifying Action Words

Transitive Verbs

An action word must always be a transitive verb.

A transitive or active verb is a verb ('a doing word') that you can actively do to someone else. It is always in the present tense and transitional, expressing an action that carries over from you (the subject) to the person you're speaking to (the object).

A useful way to identify if a verb is transitive or not is to place it between the words 'I' and 'you' and see if the sentence makes sense.

So, in the case of charm, encourage and cherish, 'I charm you', 'I encourage you', 'I cherish you' all make sense and so those three verbs must be transitive. They each express an action between characters and can define the impulse under each sentence.

Transitive Verb 'Wannabes'

Some verbs feel and sound as though they ought to be active, but in fact are not and cannot be used as actions. They will not adhere to the 'I do something to you' principle.

For example, 'I interfere with you' is not active since 'with' disrupts the principle. This may seem purist, but it will force you to be more specific, as there are many ways one can 'interfere with' someone. So, you might choose to play I disorientate you, disrupt you, muddle you, upset you, interrupt you, impede you, hamper you; all of which are transitive.

When the verb requires a noun, it is not transitive. For example, abate needs a noun - 'I abate your fears' - for the sentence to work. Similarly, allocate, concede and assign ('I allocate you a place', 'I concede the argument to you' or 'I assign you the task') cannot be action words.

Choosing the Action

Look at the text offered to you. Start by clarifying what your character wants: their objective. Then choose a transitive verb for each sentence which helps the character achieve that objective.

So if A says 'Would you like a coffee?' and the objective is to make B so comfortable he stays a bit longer, then A might choose to play 'I befriend you' or she could be more seductive and play 'I beguile you' as her tactic for achieving the objective.

Every action has a different flavour in the mouth, however similar the word looks on the page or synonymous you might think it is. It is your job to locate exactly the right word for the moment and then to play it.

An action is not necessarily right or wrong - instead, it is helpful or unhelpful in fulfilling the objective, enlivening the performance and telling the story. An action may or perhaps should change throughout rehearsal and performance. At the early stage of rehearsals, it is better to be instinctive in your choice and then finalise and hone the action later.

Playing the Action

Try the action out. Put the words of the text into your mouth. Drop your action in, speak your line now invested with your action. Speak the action out loud before continuing with the sentence. This can be done in the first person ("I tease you: 'Are you the lady of the house?'") or the third person ("Viola teases Olivia: 'Are you the lady of the house?'").

How does it feel? Try some other verbs, play around a little. Find the verb that feels perfect, the one that makes sense in your heart as well as in your head for that moment in the scene and to achieve that objective.

Another way to play around with getting used to the system is to speak your line to a couple of friends or colleagues, neutrally, with nothing invested in it. Then drop your action in, keeping it to yourself. Speak the sentence again, now invested with the action. Can your friends locate what action you are playing? How close are they? Try again. Can you do anything to make your playing more precise and the action clearer? The results of this exercise should not be considered a judgement on whether you can act! Rather, it is a fun way of experimenting with how many ways you can play an action, and how effective those versions are.

Actioning is designed to help your imagination, not replace it. Stay instinctive, stay open, surprise yourself by playing something that you wouldn't normally play, have fun. When something doesn't work, try another option until the alchemy is right. The ways in which you achieve your objective could be as many as the imagination is infinite.

You could work in reverse and decide to identify your objective only after having actioned each sentence thoroughly and found the most appropriate action word. It's up to you.

The Actioning Mantra

One thought. One sentence. One breath. One action.

- We choose an action for each whole thought.

- A whole thought is comprised within a whole sentence.

- This sentence should be spoken with one breath.

- And each breath should contain one action.

.One thought. One sentence. One breath. One action.

Actions in the Rehearsal Room

Some companies sit around a table for a large proportion of rehearsals deciding together what each action for each sentence should be, before putting any of the play onto its feet. They are mapping out the play's journey, exploring all the characters' journeys en route to the desired destination. They are building up a common interpretation and language, so that during the production run, changes can be made by the cast to enliven and invigorate what could become staid.

Other companies might touch on the language of Actioning early on, but not explore the play exhaustively by this method, only asking what actions are at play when things become stale.

The individual actor might choose to locate their character's actions for themselves when investigating the script: an emotional limbering-up before meeting the other characters in the rehearsal room. They might not mention to anyone else what their process is; after all, there are as many rehearsal processes as actors in the company.

Whilst Actioning can be applied by the solo actor in their preparation for playing a role, it works best when employed by a whole company. The text is re-active and works with (or against) text spoken by other characters. When a company works together to define their actions, there is the opportunity to play with and explore different actions, pick up ideas from one another and bounce off the actions of other characters. Intentions, meanings, possible actions and avenues for your character that might otherwise have been missed are revealed when Actioning together.

Whilst in life we do not generally know or understand people's true actions, objectives and intentions towards us, Actioning affords us this unique privilege and paves the way to a more inspired and dynamic performance by all actors in the company.

Actioning a Soliloquy

But what happens if the actor is not speaking to anyone? What if the actor is working on an audition speech or soliloquy and needs to enliven and motivate it?

Let's look at the first part of probably the most famous soliloquy of all time.

Hamlet

by Shakespeare (Act 3 Scene 1)

To be, or not to be - that is the question;

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep,

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep;

To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub.

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil

Must give us pause.

Externalising the Actions

Try imagining the space inhabited with people from the character's life and direct each complete...