Embrace the space
You leave a lot of potential wasted if you're stuck in the one place.
There’s a funny thing you notice when you watch enough shows. Often, performers tend to plant themselves in one place on stage and stay there for the whole scene.
The end result is the same whether you sit down in chairs or stand in one place. You’ll be looking at the same stage picture the whole way until the scene is edited.
This is understandable for new performers as they already have a lot happening in their heads. Getting up on stage is hard - there’s no denying that - so there’s absolutely a grace period for that as you get your sea legs.
For more experienced performers, it stands out a lot more. It’s tempting to think that people will remember a funny or clever line, but these moments happen rarely. Instead, everything else is remembered.
If the stage picture or actions are the same, it’s much harder for an audience to remember what the scene was about after the show has ended.
If you have a few shows under your belt and are more accustomed to being on stage, you can consider adding extra elements to your performance and show.
If you’re unsure where to start, changing your position on stage is a straightforward and actionable place to start.
Breaking down positioning on stage
Something to remember is that the audience will fill in the blanks. Until it’s stated, they will have their own ideas of what’s happening on stage.
So, if you are close together at the start, but both of you move to the edges, the audience will infer many things.
Even if you start the scene with both of you sitting down, one of you getting up and moving to another part of the stage will signal a big change in the scene dynamic.
How do we break this down? To begin, think of the stage as broken up into nine sections. You have the back, middle and front.
Not all spaces will be a black box theatre or perfectly square, but the same principles apply.
I’ve noticed that the back is treated as a safe place for performers, the middle is the most adventurous people will get, and the front is untouched.
As a result, many scenes happen somewhere between the back and middle, where it’s most challenging for the audience to hear what’s happening - and, in some cases, see what’s happening.
It’s easy to think the audience judges you on stage. In reality, they’re interested in what you’re going to do, so give them something to latch onto.
When you’re practising, choose to end in a position different from where you started.
You can have any reason to change the move. It could be after the scene hits the one or two-minute mark, after the key details of the scene are established, or after a significant reveal.
Tying it into dialogue
Whatever the reason, make the change and you’ll find it has an effect on the scene, especially when it’s tied into dialogue.
For example, let’s say two people are at the centre of the stage. One says, ‘Great day at the beach, can’t wait to go for a swim,’ and the other decides to move to the back.
Even though I only mentioned a positional change, you probably thought of a reason why a character would do this.
Possible reasons could be that they’re reluctant to get in, they might want to do a running jump into the water, or they might have a ritual they do to prepare for the occasion.
Whatever the reason, everyone will have an idea of why the move happened. The player, the scene partner, those at the side, and the audience will be filling in the blanks as it happens.
If you’re the person moving, you might not know why you did it immediately, but you will make the connection. Trust that and give that answer as it will tell you a lot about your character.
Alternatively, what happens if they move to the front of the stage? What does that say about the character? Are they too enthusiastic about getting in? Do they want to inspect the water close-up before making a choice?
And that’s before they use the rest of the venue as a space. A personal favourite of mine - and one that I try to do sparingly because it’s a favourite - is to go into the audience and use the space around them. At the very least, it causes the audience to be more active in how they watch the show.
But bringing it back to the basics, keep it simple. Next time, change your position on stage as the scene progresses, and you’ll be surprised at how effective it is.
I can imagine one follow-up question being, ‘If you’re at the front, how do you talk to your scene partner if you can’t see them?’
The answer is for both of you to take it slow. A good rule in general is to always have your torso facing the audience, If you wish, you can turn your head to see your scene partner when speaking or speak out to the audience.
The main thing is don’t turn your back to the audience.
Also, you can always be louder on stage. Most people are too quiet up there so focus on projecting your voice.
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