Acting & Storytelling
Are acting and storytelling two aspects of the same craft? Actors in a play are certainly different from a performing storyteller when viewed in the traditional interpretation of “telling.” Actors memorize the words of a playwright; storytellers, at least in the folk tradition, speak words in the same way a jazz musician plays notes. Although the essential form or story remains the same, every performance is a variation on the main theme and differs according to the mood of the storyteller and a particular audience.
Actors take on a single character at a time, while storytellers literally become every character in the story, including the omniscient narrator. Actors generally interact with other characters “behind the fourth wall” and do not deviate from the script even in styles of direct address where the fourth wall is specifically “broken.” Storytellers, on the other hand, seek to connect and interact directly with the audience at every single moment of their performance.
Changes in Theatre & the Science of Storytelling
As the art of theatre evolves, the lines between acting and storytelling are becoming more and more blurred. The rising popularity of personal storytelling, poetry and spoken word performances, immersive and interactive theatre where plot narratives are determined by the audience’s actions and reactions, docu-drama and playback theatre in which real life stories are dramatized – all of these exciting new trends are changing the art of theatre itself. As traditional theatres struggle with aging playgoers and dwindling numbers, these new forms are attracting younger audiences who connect on many different levels, both personally and on social media.
The sudden resurgence in storytelling has also benefitted from recent developments in understanding how the human brain takes in meaning. According to recent scientific studies, the art of telling a story stimulates the brain of an audience member in many more ways than simply listening to words or facts. The audience literally feels what the teller feels, and senses what the teller senses. Actors, as well as directors, can use these scientific discoveries to their own advantage.
How Acting Can Make Use of Storytelling
There are many storytelling techniques that can be applied to acting. Remember all those sense memory exercises from Acting 101? Actors tend to forget these simple basics, and the power of enhancing every phrase with sight, taste, sound and smell. When Romeo sighs, “O that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!” an actor who concentrates on the actual feel of soft leather against softer skin will stir his audience more than one who simply aches with adolescent longing.
Another powerful storytelling tool is the concept of specific visual focus. Actors often pull their visual focus inward when recounting an event, treating it as an emotional memory. While this can induce sympathetic feeling in the audience, it doesn’t connect them directly to the actual event. Storytellers, on the other hand, usually focus on an outward vision, inviting the audience to “see” the event they are describing along with them.
Acting and storytelling have been intertwined since human beings began sharing stories with each other. Actors and directors who draw on the tools of the ancient art of storytelling will find they can build stronger and deeper audience connections.
