Key tips for stress-free acting performance.
The very first time when you stand in front of an audience to perform a scene, you realize that you never looked at the world this way ever. Several eyes gazing at you to see what would you say or do.
Whether you are acting in theaters, for the camera or performing a scene for radio broadcasting you will always have the audience with those gazing eyes. They may like your performance, hate it or hate you for what you did.
When you perform a scene badly, some will say it upfront, for others, you can see it in their eyes or in those false appreciations and off course some of them (close to you) will openly ridicule.
There is a chance that you might expose your lack of talent or make yourself look like a fool or might lose an audience who earlier liked you. Every single actor whether a fresher or a veteran goes through it. You are surely putting yourself in grave danger. Hence acting is surely an act of bravery.
"Your defects in future might be seen as the biggest strength or a unique style in you"
Here are 5 quick tips to mentally prepare you for a stress-free performance as an actor.
1. Do not be happy for appreciations or be sad for criticisms. When you hear people saying your performance was great or your performance was bad, both of them are wrong. Do not take any of them seriously as you are just a student of acting, who is trying to find a better way to perform. Do not be happy for the appreciation or be sad for the criticism. Keep walking on the path of learning acting and its better if you never arrive at any destination. You should never be a good or bad performer but should always remain a student.
2. Perform for yourself and not for others: Do not perform to please others. Perform for the sheer joy of it. If you would try to make your audience happy, you would end up performing how they would want you to perform and you would keep repeating what they like. This will make you a prisoner of your own audience. Perform just to enjoy and strangely when you enjoy performing, the audience will enjoy it too. Hence perform for yourself and not for others.
3. Your abnormalities are the abilities normal people do not possess: Let everyone see your faults, defects, your strange way of talking, your strange way of standing, the audience will see all your defects along with all your strengths. All your strength when combined with all your defects make a unique combination and that is you. Your defects in future might be seen as the biggest strength or a unique style in you. Your abnormalities are the abilities normal people do not possess.
4. Perform to fail forward: Perform, get criticized, self-analyze, feel the fear and anxiety, change your way of performing or rehearsing, perform again, get criticized gain, get ridiculed again and keep failing forward.
5. One performance cannot fit for all: Remember that your performance will never be liked by all. If that happens maybe some of them are just lying to you or are under a pressure to show as if they liked your performance just because many others are saying it. The reality is that you will never be able to satisfy all your audience so stop trying it.
Get ready for your next acting performance. Let me know in comments if these tips were helpful for you as an actor.
Author:
Tanveer Ahmed
Director at Creative Bites
Media Production & Training