Performance Skills

Question 1

Performance Skills Definition

Answer 1

Performance skills are used to enhance and together create an actor’s presence.

Question 2

Focus

Answer 2

Focus is the ability of the actor to commit to their performance and to use concentration to sustain characters. Focus may also be used to create an implied character or setting through the manipulation of the audience’s attention towards a specific place. The manipulation of focus may assist the actor to develop an effective actor-audience relationship.

Question 3

Timing

Answer 3

Timing is used to control or regulate the pace of a performance. Timing may be manipulated in drama to build dramatic tension, to evoke feelings, to coordinate effective synchronisation within an ensemble and to develop the comic potential of a scene.

Question 4

Energy

Answer 4

Energy is the intensity an actor brings to a performance. At different times, an actor will use different levels or energy to create different performance dynamics. An actor may use low energy to create pathos. Conversely, an actor may use high energy to create a moment of tension.

Question 5

Actor-Audience Relationship

Answer 5

In an Actor-Audience Relationship the actor considers what impact they intend their performance to have on the audience. The actor-audience relationship is the way in which an actor deliberately manipulates the audience’s moods, emotions and responses ato the action. This may be done through the placement of the actor in relation to the audience, the way the actor addresses and engages the audience, and the emotional and intellectual response to the character’s situation. An actor-audience relationship only exists as part of an actual performance.

Question 6

Performance Skills

Answer 6

Focus, Timing, Energy, Actor-Audience Relationship