TIME
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend (Theophrastus)
I am time-poor right now. I am working New Zealand nights, supporting the rehearsals for a TV series in London via Zoom. My UK-based friend and actor Simon London is partnering with me to be the “person on the ground” in the rehearsal room. We are implementing some improvisational provocations to develop character and performance. The director’s aim is to use the time the actors have together to get the whole cast on the same page tonally and to create some invisible backstories to enrich the text and the relationships.
Like most TV and film rehearsals, we have limited time, a week at most. So, in my Substack today I want to think about ways we can use whatever time, resources and locations we have at our disposal to create an immersive approach to character, whether we have an hour or a month. Let’s look at some case studies as inspiration.
Jane Campion’s epic THE POWER OF THE DOG (2021) has swept the festivals this year. …