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Acting is Reacting
in the world of audio fiction

Continuing with acting tips for voice actors, this time around I want to talk about performance. If you’ve been around acting long enough, you should have heard the phrase “acting is reacting.” In the audio drama world, I hear that as the argument for why all ADs should be recorded live with the cast in real time. If that’s your thing, great. But it’s not necessary. Stage actors are trained to perform with their fellow cast doing their scenes in sequential order. And so many ADs try to replicate that. But if you’re trained to perform on screen, unless you’re doing an old school three-camera sitcom, you do your scenes out of order and more often than not, without your fellow actors even on set. So how do you achieve “acting is reacting?”

In case that phrase is new to you, the idea is, each line you say as a character is in direct response to what someone else has just said. So you aren’t saying your lines out of no where. They are meant to be delivered in response – or reacting – to the last line. You need to ONLY focus on that last line that was said to you.  As an actor, you already know where the script is going, but you need to be in that tiny micro-moment reacting to what was just spoken and not bring in your actor’s knowledge of what is to come. Is that easier with the other actor present? Sure. But if you’ve watched any great screen performances, actors who have been bestowed awards and high acclaim, I am here to tell you that a LOT of those performances were given without the other cast members present, with a camera bearing down on them, surrounded by crew (who want nothing more than to get lunch) and, if they were lucky, a script assistant reading the cue lines hopefully with some level of performance.  So how can you give a reaction, a great performance, alone?

It’s you and the microphone. But it’s also you and your imagination.  You’ve read the entire script and have studied your character thoroughly (go back to READ THE SCRIPT for more on that). Now you need to imagine yourself in that place with those other characters around you.  Hey, if professional actors can do it with a space draped in fluorescent green for CG, you can do it in your studio. So what is your character wearing? How is he/she holding themselves? Embody the physical, even if just in your mind, and the vocal will follow. Now you’re ready to react to the other characters.

Read along with the scene. I’ll beat you over the head with this one, too. READ ALONG WITH THE SCENE. Okay, you already read the scene when you were doing your script analysis. But if you truly want to be in the moment, you need to read in your head the lines that come between yours. Your cues. The reason you are saying what you are saying: the other characters’ lines.  That will not only keep you in the moment and emotion of the scene, but will remind you what your reaction is supposed to be. Even if you’ve already read the script before, in that moment when you’re recording, some of the information you absorbed may have slipped away.  And you won’t be giving the reaction the line calls for.  Your delivery will sound out of context and disjointed to the scene.  Hopefully you are giving multiple takes for the dialogue editor, so you can play with a few variations in that moment, but, really, every single one of your takes should be viable for that moment in the script if you truly know how your character should be reacting.

And now guess what?  Bonus! If you’ve put this work in to your reactions, you’re less likely to get notes from your director and have to record pick-ups!  But if you maybe aren’t sure about a reaction, reach out to your director. Make sure you’re both on the same page for the scene and the character. No harm in asking.

The beauty of acting is embodying a different character in a different world. And, like all artists, you need to rely on your imagination to make the world around you feel real so your performance can feel real. You are no longer in a T-Shirt and sweats shut away in a cave of a recording space with a microphone dominating your field of vision.  You are a PERSON reacting to this moment in your LIFE. React, listen in your mind to the others around you. The more real it is for you, the more real it will be for your audience.

Chrisi (aka Madison)

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