BE SPECIFIC

Author

Acting Mastery
12 Apr

THE POWER OF THE FREE ASSOCIATION TOOL

This is a tool that both myself and highly-acclaimed director, Kim Farrant, are big fans of. Through coaching so many actors of all training and experience levels on a weekly basis, one thing in particular continues to stand out:

❝

When an actor starts to get specific on everything contained within their script, the difference in their work is night and day

If you can get clear on the people, places, objects, timeframes, and events in a script as you prep, you’ll unlock another level of specificity and effortless in your work

Specificity brings nuance to a character and a scene.
When you’re clear on what you’re talking about, there’s no need to push and there’s no acting required.
You can just be in the knowing

Ben Mathews

So, how do you get specific on everything in the scene for your character?

1. Go through each line in your scene and circle every time a PERSON, PLACE, OBJECT, TIMEFRAME, or EVENT is mentioned or referenced

2. When you reach a circled word in your script, stop and free associate about it. How does your character feel about it? What’s their relationship to it? Entertain the positive and negative to get a clear, complete picture of what each of them mean to your character

  1. Once you’ve free associated on that circled word, say the full line of dialogue again and notice the difference after you’ve imbued it with context, depth, relationship, and life

Free associate on your own and with your scene partner,
on what your character and other character’s say, and
on the dialogue and the stage direction

See what discoveries you make!

Be a detective searching for clues in your script.
Go slow to go fast, and have fun!
There’s no right or wrong way to do it.

Take care and speak soon,
Ben Mathews & The Acting Mastery Team

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