One Word Subtext—An Acting "Game" to Play During Rehearsals to Understand Script Better

A Phil Svitek Podcast - A Series From Your 360 Creative Coach · Aug 5, 2021 · 5m

There's a "game," or technique if you want to call it that, you can try during rehearsals with your actors. I call it the One Word Subtext game. How it works is every actor must say their line of dialogue using only one word. It doesn't matter if the line is short or a full monologue. They have to deduce it down to a single word. It's fun but more importantly it forces the actors to think about the essence of each verbal line. This also allows you to gauge how they are interpreting the subtext, because the word chosen will underscore the subtext the character is feeling. For all these…