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Position:Home>Theater & Acting> What do you do when opening night is 4 nights away and you have a lead actor whoQuestion: What do you do when opening night is 4 nights away and you have a lead actor who STILL doesn't know his lines!? I am directing a show and have a lead actor who is still struggling with his lines big time! He is throwing the other actors off!. I am at a complete loss, so much so that I am coming here for ideas! And we are opening in 4 days!!!!!!!!Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The big question is!.!.!.WHY doesn't he know his lines!. Is the blocking so difficult that it is throwing him off!? Is it nerves or inexperience!? I consider this one of the rudest things an actor could do!. I would highly suggest getting somebody elso to do the part, this guy is obviously a flake!. BUT all that said, shows have a magical way of pulling themselves together right in the nick of time!. That is one of the joys of live theatre! Have somebody else learn the part!. If the lead botches the part on opening night, replace him!. Good luck and the show must go on!Www@QuestionHome@Com Beat him severely!. If you can't recast, then you'll have to work with him!. You could schedule him for extra rehearsals and supervise his line-learning!. You could do speed-throughs and just wait until he spits out something close to his line!. You could try embarrassing him and focusing the entire rehearsal on him and getting his lines down!. That worked in one show I was in: two other leads didn't know their lines and I did so they forced us to sit together and go over and over the lines!. Other shows have recast and sent an actor onstage with a book!. Of course, that was due to illness and not laziness!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Get a new actor, a good actor will know those lines within 4 days, but you should have done this a lot earlier!. Can you push the release date back or not!? Just a suggestion!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Replace him, even if the new actor has to carry the script!. You must not tolerate an actor who does not learn his lines!. Maybe you can do the role!. Www@QuestionHome@Com If there's an understudy bring him in now!. Otherwise have double duty rehearsals until he has his lines down!. Outside shot is bringing in an actor who can get it down in four days!. It can be done!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Does he have an understudy!? May be time to bring them in!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I was very interested in the answers to this question!. I had a similar circumstance years ago!. Because of the actor's schedule with rehearsals, I didn't find out how bad off he was until two nights before the show opened, which it did!. I begged him to at least learn the lines in the show's last act (it was Shakespeare)!. By the end of the first week, he had made no effort!. There was no other actor possible to replace him with!. I closed the show!. Shows do close!. The other actors in the show refused to work with me thereafter!. I think that the other actors undoubtedly knew that he didn't know his lines, and that he wasn't making the effort!. I think that the actors should have come to me and told, or have threatened the actor with other ways and means that only the other members of the ensemble could have accomplished!. The show doesn't always have to go on!. Sometimes they are in such bad shape that they shouldn't!. The actor should have been replaced, period!. Several lessons were learned!. Some shows shouldn't go on!. It's rare, but they are out there!. Two, never hestiate to replace an actor who is having that kind of trouble!. The British know their lines when they show up for the first rehearsal oftentimes!. If you don't know them at a certain point, you're not going to at all!. Not in a way that allows you to act, and not just recite!. The ensemble has a responsibility to the show too!. There are rare circumstances where the director doesn't know everything!. Never do a show with an actor who is 'irreplaceable'!. No actor should be!. A show is a family, and everyone must help to put all of their resources to the good of and the success of the show!. An irresponisble actor should be pointed out to everyone!. Everyone is there to serve the show, not themselves!. Replace your actor, even if someone has to carry a script to get through it!. Audiences are incredibly understanding with things like this!. They will admire the actor who makes the giant effort to get the show done!. Finally, it's not entirely your fault!. Actors should be responsible to the show!. Use deadlines and stick to them!. Be ruthless and do what you have to do!. You run a risk of upsetting everyone, but they need to learn that the show comes first, not the egos of the actors!. This is what is professional!. I would not be working with that actor again!. Everyone deserves a second chance (maybe) but there are some things that you just don't do!. This is one of them!. Www@QuestionHome@Com |