Question on technique and interpretation

[adela]

Hi everyone,
I am not an actrice,I am a violinist so I want to please ask you to explain something to me.
When we have to practice and perform very often the same concerto every evening,in order to maintain the performance at a certain level,regardless of our feelings that night,we practice so that the feelings are there,with the help of the built technique,even if we have a bad day and can't feel it then.
I have just seen Richard the III at the Almeida Theatre and I found Ralph Fiennes's performance incredibly intense so I was wondering,since I know so little about acting,if you actors have any tips so that,if one evening you just can't identify yourself with the character or can't focus your mind to be there completely,you can just go on and seem intense and authentic thanks to the built tehnique.
I wonder because I don't think someone can be that intense for 2 months,each evening...you go crazy..although I always believed that tehnique should arise from emotion and not the other way around,since like this you can always evolve and discover new things but not if you do it vicerversa.But in the way performances take place,that would be impossible I believe.

Thank you so much!

[lynette]

Hi adela, welcome to the Board. I think with actors technique does play a huge part.

[Deleted]

In a Q&A session I attended years ago, Kevin Spacey said that it was all about taking however you feel that day - angry, happy, sad, whatever - and just making it work for the performance/character.

I'm trying to think how Mark Rylance responded to a similar question from an acting student in the recent South Bank Show episode he did - the student basically asked: "How do you cope when real life distracts you from your performance, eg when you find yourself mentally drawing up a shopping list, or wondering what you're going to have for dinner?" It runs in my mind Rylance gave a similar "Just run with it" response, as in "don't necessarily try to push it away".

I would guess from things many actors have said (eg their partners not liking certain characters they've played because they 'take them home with them') that for actors currently focused on a particular role, it can often be hiding their characters' strong feelings as they live their own lives that can be the problem!

[nash16]

www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/28/actors-key-shakespeare-speeches-laurence-olivier-sophie-okonedo might be of interest to you too, adela