How to improve acting skills, memorise scripts and control emotions when in front of people?

Answer 1

Hi 001. What the first answering person said was not very helpful. Many famous actors never went through any kind of drama training at all, to many it just comes naturally, to others it is something that you have to work at.

MEMORISING SCRIPTS
Well, wen I used to act I never had too much trouble with this, but I know that many others did. Some good tips to learn include:
(1)Don't only learn your lines but also your cues - when you say a line is as important as getting the words right.
(2) Try to lear that most writing (and so most plays) have a natural rhythm. This can be a great help to learning your lines and so makes Shakespeare particularly easy once you understand the language.
(3) Understand what your words mean: An actor speaking Shakespeare will never remember his lines if he/she doesn't understand them... If you know what the storyline is then your lines will make sense, so you are far more likely to remember them.
(4) Practice with someone else - get them to read the other parts so that you know when you are supposed to come in with your lines.
(5) Try and get a recording of your rehearsal/readthrough and shut your eyes and listen to it every night before bed.

As far as controlling your emotions is concerned we very often use a technique called' emotional memory'. If you are onstage and have to portray, lets imagine, your best friend dying - you may not have ever experienced that in real life. Think of another instance that made you feel that sad - maybe a pet dying when you were young. think of how you felt and acted in that instance. Remember how upset and lonely you felt - try and feel those feelings in the base of your tummy and keep that emotion in the back of your head whilst you are on the stage. the same is true of very happy memories or any other emotion you are trying to portray.

As for acting skills - the most important lesson is in characterisation. We always learned to give our characters a background. Imagine where your character might live, their favourite food, the way they might walk, the clothes and shoes they might wear. By understanding your character inside out you will give a little something to the performance that you might not have found otherwise.

Hope this helps!

Mimi

Answer 2

hi acting just comes from within.
memorising scripts - dont memeorise/cram , understand and mean what u say.
controlling emotions is hard- i'll give u an example - when we were doing a show, one of ma fellow actresses couldn't control her emotions and she burst out laughing- it was bad!
but if u feel like laughing on stage jus push ur thumbnail into one of ur fingers and that will control u frm laughing.

Answer 3

It's called acting school.