would like to discuss two questions in this column: what is the essence of text?, and what is the active component of text?  I’d like to explore this in a practical, rather than a philosophical way. Our basis for analysis as actors should essentially be active.  We’re not interested in all possible meanings, but in those that will lead to action, and not only that, but to meaningful action within the body of the text itself.  So I will take a few examples and give a beginning formulation of how we can derive the essnetial message and action for a phrase within a dramatic text.

One of the things I would like to stress for this exercise is that it is important to stay close to the message of the words themselves, as they are expressed in the text, and use the illumination of the text itself to the extent possible, although this also necessarily involves an interpretation.

FIRST EXAMPLE:

                 “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.”

Essence: I see her and realize she [my beloved] is as radiant as the sun.

Action:     To praise her.

Quality:   Adoration.

The Essence is the meaning or message of the phrase.

It breaks down to an action with a particular quality or type of behavior. This gives a suggestion of what to do and how to do it.   These can be applied by:

1.      Saying the line of text in order to express the essence, while

2.      Doing the action, with:

3.      The behavior of the quality.

SECOND EXAMPLE:

                   “… my kingdom for a horse.”

Essence      I’d give everything to get a horse so I can keep fighting.

Action      To beg for help.

Quality:   Desperation.

Translating phrases into their ‘active essence’ and finding the action and quality contained in that essential statement, is a way of finding what in the text really needs to be communicated and acted on.   It is also a way of making sure that one is not reading for intellectual meanings, but for active meanings that are playable and have some effect on the actor’s behavior.  Otherwise we are stuck trying to communicate information through various manipulations of speech.  Literary analysis does not translate well into behavioral activity.

For instance, if we take the sentence: ‘It is the East, and Juliet is the sun”, we can look at it as a metaphor, see Juliet sa the bright light that has come into Romeo’s life.  We can look at the morning light coming up and propose that Juliet’s coming into Romeo’s life is like a ‘new day dawning’ in his life, after a period of darkness or depression.    This kind of literary thinking may or may not shed light on the symbology and thought process that went into Shakespeare’s creation of the statement, but in that literary form it will diffuse rather than focus the actor’s choices. 

But when we ask what is the essence of the statement, in active terms, we look for one specific element that will have an effect on behavior. Too many ideas will lead to general intellectual or psychological acting, rather than specific behavior.

© 2001 Robert Epstein

Robert Epstein is the Program Director
and Instructor of The Complete
Meisner-Based Actor's Training in
Washington, D.C

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Winter 2001