acting gestures?

Question

i play a very obnoixious, mean, agressive character. One line I say to the audience, "Hey!!!? HEY you! you want some food?! You want some food?!!!" the director want me to point to audience members and yell at them. I don't know what other gestures with my hands i can do other than pointing. please help:)

Answer 1

Hands up like "What" Your whole body should be confrontational. You could also clench your fists like you're frustrated that no one is responding to you. Leaning toward them as if daring them to take you on with your arms out to your sides, gorilla-like "Come on, come on". Behind each line is DeNiro's "You want a piece of me?" from Taxi Driver. And maybe "That's right, because I'm better than all of you"

Also look up aggressive body language:
http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/aggressive_body.htm

break a leg,
Marianne

Answer 2

OK so you can point to one or two people and then get more general in your aggression. Take a stance and stand forward, as "in your face" as you can from the stage. If he is also obnoxious, you can move about and make big gestures with your arms to include everyone in your aggression. You could have some fun with this and don't worry about how it looks cuz it's the character doing this so the audience won't think it's you unless you step out of character. You can do this and I wish I could see your performance! Break a leg!

Answer 3

Two fingers and thumb toward mouth aggressively mimicking feeding.

I cannot spell it out for you, but the gesture is instantly recognizable.

The second "You want some food?" can be played as if your character is bullying the patron, subtext "what, are you too stupid to understand food?"

I'm thinking a Joe Pesci-type bully. Really scary psycho type.

Answer 4

Well, what would you do if you were trying to get someones attention? People do tend to wave when they are saying Hey.

If you are playing someone of such high intensity start to think of your motions as punching something. Very choppy and thrust like. If you even walk like this it will start to change everything even your voice. Try looking at yourself in a mirror when you are going over your lines.

Answer 5

For Acting, I would recommend

http://www.hollywoodnorth.com

Answer 6

'suit the action to the word, the word to the action....." read Hamlet's advice to the players and follow it.