Solo drama performance tomorrow any tips on how to get past the nerves?

Question:

Solo drama performance tomorrow any tips on how to get past the nerves?

the piece is about 1 minute long and feedback i got from my drama teacher before was to keep better eye contact with the audiance, ive tried but just get nervous and look away? its for my overall GCSE mark so very very important!!! thnxxx

X...x15yr old girl UKx...X

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: 1. Don't think about internal things going on inside your own mind (thoughts, worries, feelings, etc). Concentrate on external things, what you are saying and who you are speaking to.

2. In a play, you are usually talking to one other character. Imagine the whole audience is that single person. Talk to them as if they were that person.

At home, before your performance, get into character and think... Who is it you are talking to? Someone older or more senior than you that you need to be respectful to? A child? A lover? An enemy? How does your character feel right now? What just happened in the play before this line that makes you feel the way you do? What just happend to the character you are talking to and what mood are they in? Is your line conveying the appropriate emotion and emphasis for that line? Would your character be affraid of the way the other character will react?

That's a lot of thinking. Do that at home until its second nature and you're happy you're saying the line the right way. Don't do all that thinking during the performance.

3. Talk at the right volume for the audience to hear you at the back. Not too loudly and not too quietly.

Notice, I've said 'talk to' the other character, not 'speak', which implies you're just launching words into space.

Make brief eye-contact with audience members. With no eye-contact at all, they feel you're not talking to them. Too much and they feel uncomfortable, like you're staring. Look at different people in the audience by all means, but generally look in the same sort of direction all the time. Don't noticably keep moving the direction you are looking left and right.

Think about how much eye-contact you feel comfortable with in real life, when talking to people you know well and people you've just met. Try to achieve the same amount when acting.

This guide which is not to do with acting, but on the subject of dating, has some info on how much eye-contact people feel comfortable with.