As an actor, you will likely come across countless books and training classes that focus on discovering and integrating subtext into your acting. If you are not familiar, subtext is the inner dialogue happening in your mind as you engage in conversation and undertake physical actions. Right now, as you read this article, there is subtext happening in your mind. It is your job as a performer to uncover your character’s subtext and utilize this information throughout your performance.
One of the most important techniques you as an actor can understand is knowing how to interact according to your subtext.
While you will not verbally speak your subtext, you must understand that these unspoken words have more weight than your spoken words when it comes to the interaction between yourself and other actors as well as with the world around you.
Engaging Per Your Subtext
This is one of my personal favorite topics as it requires an actor to delve deeper than the words written in a script. It is easy to approach a fellow actor in a scene based solely on the actual text and action cues; however, doing so leads to boring and flat performances.
To engage others according to your subtext, you will automatically adjust your body, movement, volume and style of your voice to match the internal (or the true) emotions your character is feeling.
You see, your subtext does not lie to you. Your subtext cannot deceive you. Subtext is the ultimate truth when it comes to a persons’ emotions, and the only way to fully create and act as another character is to engage others according to this truth.
For example, if you are hiding a giant secret from your lover and he is telling you how much he adores you – your subtext will alter how you engage him. Typically, you would be all smiles and your face would clearly show how much you enjoy his compliments; however, due to this secret, your subtext is preventing you from your typical response. This may manifest itself in a variety of ways (according to your character’s personality); however, the internal dialogue that happens during this scene will cause a physical and psychological shift in your character.