Physical Action, choosing an objective
Taken from A Practical Handbook for the Actor by Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeline Pollack, Robert Previto and Scott Zigler
The physical pursuance of a specific goal. It is the one thing that the actor can consistently do on stage.
An action/objective must
1. be physically capable of being done.
2. be fun to do.
3. be specific
4. have its test in the other person.
5. not be an errand.
6. not presuppose any physical or emotional state.
7. not be manipulative.
8. have a "cap."
9. be in line with the intentions of the playwright.
1. An action must be physically capable of being done.
"Pleading for help" is something that you can begin to do immediately. "Pursuing the American dream" is not something you can pick up and do at a moment's notice. That's not to say an action has to involve intense physical activity like jumping up and down. You can be "pleading for help" while sitting still in a chair.
An action must be something that you, the actor, can actually accomplish onstage.
2. An Action must be fun to do.
As you will learn, any number of actions can be correct for a particular scene. Common sense dictates that you decide on one that you, as an actor, will want to do, since you will be the one doing it. Fun doesn't necessarily mean something that will make you laugh but rather something that is compelling to you. Language is your tool here: you should use vital, active, gutsy words that will inspire you to want to do this action.
"To get someone to give me information" is a good, playable action, but it may not be as compelling as "convince an enemy to reveal a dark secret."
3. An action must be specific.
Stanislavski said, "Generality is the enemy of all art." If your action is general, then everything you do onstage will be general. The specificity of an action like "extracting a crucial answer" will bring you much more to life than the vagueness of "finding out something."
4. The test of the action must be in the other person.
An action is the pursuance of a specific goal, and that goal must have to do with the other person. In other words, looking at your partner, you should be able to tell how close you are to completing your action. This also makes you less self-conscious and allows you to concentrate on something way more interesting than how well you're performing. If your action is "forcing an enemy to do my bidding," at any moment you should be able to tell how close he is to doing your bidding, and only when he's done your bidding will you have completed the action.
5. An action cannot be an errand.
An errand is an action that has no test in the other person. "Delivering a message" is not a good action because you do not have to look at your partner to know if you've completed it or not. Also, it can be completed in a line, which leaves you with nothing to do for the rest of the scene. However, if your action is "to impress an important superior," even if you have no dialogue, you still have an interesting action to play.
6. An action cannot presuppose any physical or emotional state -- either in you or in your partner.
You can't artificially induce a physical or emotional state (ex: hunger, anger, sorrow, drunkenness), because those feelings are not within your control. Any action that forces you to assume one of these states will force you to act a lie, the truth being that you are not in those states. If you try to work yourself up into the state for a scene, then your concentration will be on maintaining that state and not on your action.
"Making a jerk know how mad I am" is not a good action because you can't do it unless you are angry. A better action would be "Putting a jerk in his place."
7. An action cannot be manipulative.
A manipulative action is one chosen to produce a desired effect on your partner. This type of action leads to a scene where you've planned what you're going to do, no matter what your partner is doing onstage. "Making a friend cry" is a manipulative action. A better action would be "Forcing a friend to face facts." A manipulative action can cause you to act in a predetermined way instead of dealing truthfully with what is happening on stage.
8. The action must have a cap.
The cap is the specific thing you are looking for to know if you have succeeded with your action. You have to be able to know if you are finished with your action by looking at the other person. For example "To get a friend's forgiveness" is an action with a cap. You know when your partner has forgiven you by their behavior toward you. An action like "Maintaining someone's interest" does not have a cap. You must always have a specific end to work toward onstage.
9. The action must be in line with the intentions of the playwright.
Once you determine exactly what the playwright's intentions are, the actions you choose must be true to those intentions. For example in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, in the scene where Willy returns home after his harrowing trip, if the actress playing Linda chooses an action such as "putting someone in his place" for the scene, it is clearly out of whack with the intentions of the playwright. Something more in line with the scene would be "assuring a loved one of my support."
For the purposes of classwork and oftentimes during the rehearsal process, though, it can be fun and even extremely revealing to occasionally break this rule. Playing an opposite action to the scene's normal intention might show you something completely new that you never thought of before.