Playing 1984

CHALLENGES OF PLAYING 1984

As a future actress (an actress in progress...) I dare to say that playing on stage is not easy at all. You need concentration more than anything at all; you need to be with your partner, listening to everything he/she gives you and, of course, you have to be with the audience. For all these reasons, being an actor is as hard as other professions in the world. IT'S NOT AN EASY JOB!!!

So, I'd say that playing 1984 requires all these competences. But of course, the most difficult task for an actor in this field is the combination of both playing on stage and being filmed at the same time. BUT WHY? BECAUSE there is nothing more annoying than shifting from one code (the theatre one) to another (the filming/cinema one).

Being on stage requires a different presence, more expression as people from the last row want to enjoy the play as those lucky ones in the first row. The actor's body needs to be more active, a little bit more than in real life. That's not a big problem but....what happens when your character is being filmed and your face appears on a big screen at the same time you're kissing the woman of your dreams in your own room? Here the actor has to face the challenge!!! 

Changing easily from a big amount of energy to a little bit less is terribly hard. Now the expression is in the eyes but not entirely in the body. And this is a great challenge, for sure it is!! We also have to add all the hectic environment, the noises that bring a total paranoia in room 101. 

Here I can say that Matthew Spencer, and of course the rest of the cast, but specially him and his female partner, face this challenge with sublime perfection!!! WELL DONE!!! 

 

Matthew Spencer as Winston Smith