My very first "Ask Jim" question comes from an anonymous member of the JaCKPie community. They write "What should you do if your scene partner never stops talking? What if they wont let you say anything?! What should you do?"Great question! Why is it such a good question for me in particular? Because I used to be a motormouth in scenes! Later on in this article I'll give some background on my history as a motormouth but for now I will roll up my sleeves and tackle the question at hand.
My first impulse in any situation where my scene partner is talking but not listening or is listening but won't allow two words in edgewise is to ask myself the question "WHY?" or more clearly "WHY is my scene partner motoring through this scene?" If I take a moment and watch/listen and I can discern the why behind their motoring then I will be able to help make my partner look brilliant and bring the scene itself to a place of balanced discovery.As everyone who takes level 1 at JaCKPie knows, our golden rule is to make our scene partner look like gold. So if my partner is talking in non-stop run-on sentences, my first job here is to make them look brilliant for doing this… If I can at the same time stop them from diatribing and get them connected, then I have done 2 jobs at the same time. But first I must be able to recognize the intent. Most times this is easy because I know and have workshopped with the scene partner in question. Sometimes I have not had that luxoury and must make an assesment on the fly...
REASONS YOUR PARTNER MIGHT TALK TOO MUCH IN A SCENE
- They are nervous/scared and don't realize that words are coming out of their mouth
- They are trying to get out a pre determined idea that is in their head onto the stage all at once
- They are over-explaining their ideas because they fear they will not be understood
- They do not like silence and perhaps you were existing in silence that they did not feel comfortable with
- They are not connected with their scene partner and instead are in their own head
- They love to hear themselves talk and do so at great length on or off the stage
- They are making a character choice re: rate of speech which has accidentally led to a lack of availble silence
- They are a good storyteller and tend to narrate when they talk instead of discovering moment by moment in the scene
We must now have a look at two factors… Which of these is something that we can alter on-stage and which are best left for the coach to handle after the show?
NERVOUS TALKING: If my partner is nervous then my first job onstage is to make them feel secure. If I can get them out of flight mode and into a healthy dialogue of discovery then by all means I should do it. If they are so nervous that they cannot connect, I continue to make them look brilliant but make a note to ask my coach in a healthy manor about it after the show.
PRE DETERMINED IDEAS: As we practice in workshops at JaCKPie you should not be coming in with too much that is pre determined about the scene. If your partner has done this whether on purpose or by accident, the best thing you can do is again, to make them look brilliant. This can be done with praise from character to character… even if it is so transparent as to say "That is brilliant!" right in the middle of one of their long lines. Others that work are "Wow that is sexy", "That is so sweet and sad!" (followed by strong emotional reaction), "My you look strong" etc… You get the picture… Compliments from charcter to character make it about the relationship and less about the pre determined idea. If this doesn't work, approach your coach after the show in a healty way.
OVER EXPLAINING IDEAS: Many times when someone is over explaining in a scene with me I will literally say things that are both character lines and actor to actor communication. "Slow down man! Take a breath! I'm with you!" or "Yeah, yeah! I totally know what you mean!" and then continue to reinforce that you understand them, get where they are coming from and that you are going to take good care of them. This usually works, but if it doesn't, see your coach.
UNCOMFORTABLE WITH SILENCE: If your scene partner is uncomfortable with silence, that is usually a workshopping issue. There is very little you can do in a scene to get someone to like silence if they walked into the performance feeling negative about it. If you realize they are not respecting the silence, the best thing to do is to connect with them and make them look brilliant but for the moment let your idea of playing in silence go for the sake of your partner and the scene. Silence is something that should be workshopped frequently in class or at rehearsal and if it is not, make sure to talk to your coach about it… in… a…. Healthy… way…
IN THEIR HEADS: The best way to get your scene partner to get out of their heads is to make them look brilliant for whatever they are doing and then do something that brings them into your thoughts as much as possible. Draw their focus in, hold their hand, touch their shoulder or do anything that brings them out of whatever worry has put them in their head to begin with.
LOVE TO HEAR THEMSELVES TALK: If your scene partner loves to hear themselves talk, you can use a combination of tactics above to bring them around and get them into balanced discovery, but if they are more in tune with the audience and needs their approval more than they want to connect with you, it may be a coaching issue.
CHARACTER CHOICE: RATE OF SPEECH: If they are purely making a charater choice that they cannot control but honestly want to connect with you then you should make a character choice that compliments theirs or an emotional choice that is very big and is specifically about something that they JUST SAID. If they see that you are reacting to a small piece of information and it affected them then they are more likely to be aware of giving you more opportunities to speak and consequently to be inspired/affected.
STORYTELLER: If your scene partner spins a good yarn they may very well think that they are helping the scene out in a big way by giving tons of specifics and emotions and huge gifts to their partner. They may not realize that they are taking over the scene. My first tactic would be to get their attention and focus and in a very fun, kind manor make a very clear choice that combines one of their ideas but adds a new idea not referenced anywhere in their previous lines... If they clearly see you are making a small turn of the steering wheel they will often pop out of story mode and have some fun discovering along with you.
WHAT TO DO IF IT IS A COACHING ISSUE: If you cannot discern a single reason for the motoring and you cannot seem to get them connected to you then don't bother trying. At this point we fall back on our golden rule at JaCKPie... focus all of your energies for the sake of the scene and your partner. Make them look good and make the most out of the scene. If you allow yourself to feel cheated or to get in your head then the scene has an additional problem that wasn't there when you started!
And finally I will give the added fun of my own motormouth situation when I was learning long-form in Chicago under the tutiledge of Bob Dassie. I was guilty of several of the things listed above. I was a bit nervous, controlling and a storyteller. I noticed that scenes were so much easier and flowed so smoothly when I did most of the talking. That was the point in time when Bob Dassie told me that I wasn't really doing a two person scene, I was just narrating and that there wasn't any discovery in what I was doing. it took me a few scenes to shed it completely but I have to say that it was one of the largest revelations about this craft that I got during most of my education in long-form.
Great question Anonymous! Keep them coming!
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