12/19/2023
8 Acting Exercises for the Well-Prepared Performer
BY ELAINE ROBERTS | DECEMBER 12, 2023
Article Image Photo Source: jonnyslav/Shutterstock
As an actor at any level, you’ve got to keep your skills sharp. We’ve compiled the best exercises, warmups, and games that will improve technique, establish a strong performer’s foundation, and take your craft to the next level.
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Uta Hagen’s Basic Object Exercise
Stella Adler’s Imagination Exercise
Packing a Bag with Given Circumstances
Meisner’s Repetition Exercise
Gibberish
The Mirror Game
Spacewalk
Character Walk
Uta Hagen’s Basic Object Exercise
Renowned acting teacher Uta Hagen was keen on observing the details of normal actions to help incorporate them into acting. Her “Basic Object Exercise” is a good place to start because it helps you become self-aware of the small actions of everyday life. The objective of the exercise, also called “two minutes of daily life,” is to replicate the activities you do in a day but focus on the details that you would not ordinarily think about.
For example: pouring yourself a cup of coffee. Usually, we don’t put thought into reaching out for a mug, pressing a button to turn on the coffee machine, or pouring the hot liquid into the cup. In this part of the exercise, intently focus on what it feels like to do each step. Take stock of any behavior, movement, or reaction you might not have noticed otherwise.
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The challenge is then to recreate that everyday activity as realistically and naturally as possible. Treat those two minutes of preparing and pouring a cup of coffee as its own scene, with you as the main character. Film yourself performing this “scene” to see if it looks and feels as real as it does when you do it off-camera.
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Stella Adler’s Imagination Exercise
Imagination
Khosro/Shutterstock
From the teachings of acting coach Stella Adler, the imagination exercise helps keep your creative skills sharp and ready to use at a moment’s notice. It’s simple: pick any object and describe it. Be as simple but specific as possible; include details like size, shape, texture, and colors.
The goal is to get so quick at describing your surroundings that it loosens up your creative faculties and allows you to easily get into what Adler calls “traveling.” This is when your imagination goes beyond what something looks like and into what it says to you. For example, a red rose reminds you of a red dress someone wore at a party, and this reminds you of the food you ate that night, and that reminds you of the song that was playing, so on and so forth.
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Packing a Bag with Given Circumstances
Konstantin Stanislavsky, the “father of modern acting,” coined the idea of the “given circumstances” within a scene. This is the entire context and conditions surrounding your character—everything from their historical background to where they live, what job they have, and who they are in a relationship. Defining the given circumstances comes from careful script analysis, but a way into the idea is to ask basic questions:
Who?
When?
Where?
Why?
For what reason?
How?
The object of this exercise is to give yourself a set of given circumstances and then pack a bag—either miming or using real objects—under those conditions. For example: pack your bag as a college freshman late for a class where the professor told you one more absence is a failing grade. Then pack a bag as a soldier on the way home to the love of their life. Try out all different kinds of circumstances, letting the given circumstances guide your decisions.
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Meisner’s Repetition Exercise
Acting scene partner
Sanford Meisner, who emphasized “the reality of doing,” believed repetition would allow rely on natural instincts instead of over-thinking. His well-known repetition exercise is best done with a partner.
To begin, sit across from your partner and state an observation. This can be as simple as “your eyes are blue.” Your partner repeats the observation back to you, word-for-word and with the same inflection. The most important part during all phases of the exercise is to actively listen to your partner. Don’t worry about the words themselves or their meaning, just the delivery. If anything changes in your partner’s tone or phrasing, try to match it.
Actor 1: Your eyes are blue.
Actor 2: Your eyes are blue.
Actor 1: Your eyes are blue.
Actor 2: Your eyes are blue.
Actor 1: Your eyes are blue.
The next step of the exercise is to respond to your partner with your own point of view. Allow yourself to respond instinctively to their tone and delivery.
Actor 1: Your eyes are blue.
Actor 2: My eyes are blue.
Actor 1: Your eyes are blue?
Actor 2: My eyes are blue.
The goal is to get to the next and most complex version of the repetition exercise, where the back-and-forth is a complex dialogue dictated completely by both actors observing their partner. The idea is, by this point, you are out of your own head and reacting only to what is presented to you.
Actor 1: Your eyes are blue.
Actor 2: My eyes are blue.
Actor 1: Your eyes are too blue.
Actor 2: [shifts in their chair] My eyes are too blue?
Actor 1: You’re uncomfortable.
Actor 2: I am uncomfortable.
Actor 1: [laughs] You are uncomfortable.
Actor 2: You think that’s funny.
Actor 1: [grinning and looking away] I don’t think that’s funny.
Actor 2: You’re lying.
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Gibberish
Viola Spolin, the “mother of improvisational theater,” developed a series of improv games that help actors be present and express themselves freely onstage or in front of a camera.
One of these games involves Gibberish. The objective is to tell a story using nonsense words while a partner interprets based on your physical movements and the subtext of your delivery. There are a few advanced ways to play with Gibberish, depending on how many practice partners (or audience members) you have. In one version, two actors will carry on a conversation (or an entire scene) while a third translates what they’re saying. In another, actors will play out a scenario—usually suggested by the audience—while an outside observer tells them, at random, when to switch between gibberish and English.
Like all of Spolin’s games, this exercise helps actors stay in the moment, remain creatively spontaneous, and create organic moments with scene partners. It’s also integral to learning how to deliver the meaning behind words, not just the words themselves. (Plus it’s just a ton of fun.)
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The Mirror Game
The mirror game
PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock
Another one of Spolin’s acting exercises is the Mirror Game. To play, two people stand in front of each other and pretend they are a mirror image of the other. One actor initiates the movement while their partner attempts to copy it exactly. After a while, switch roles.
The goal is to not think about the movement beyond the fact your partner is doing it and, therefore, you must copy it. This helps hone your ability to remain actively focused on your scene partners at all times.
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Spacewalk
The spacewalk is a great way to learn how to use your environment, get comfortable in your own body, and rev up your imagination. The objective is to move through a defined space, keeping hyper-aware of the area and how it feels to make a path through it. Then, switch to imaginary environments, paying attention to how that would feel.
Try some of the following prompts for a few minutes each.
Begin by walking normally. Focus on your environment.
Now, imagine you’re walking through mud. Think about how it would feel, how your body would move, and the level of difficulty. For example, you might walk more slowly since it’s causing your shoes to stick.
Now pretend you’re stepping across stones in a lake. Go through the same observations.
Now pretend you’re moving through freezing cold snow.
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Character Walk
Walking
Dusan Petkovic/Shutterstock
This exercise is similar to doing a spacewalk, but turns the attention to character creation. The basic idea is to walk from one point to another as someone other than yourself. Think about how that character’s specific background, personality, and given circumstances affect how they walk.
If you’re alone, write down several prompts and set a timer to do each one. If you have a partner, one person can create the prompts as you go. Try some of the following prompts for a few minutes each.
Walk like a fashion model.
Walk like a dancer.
Walk like a famous actor.
Walk like a football player.
Walk like a CEO.
Walk like a soldier.
For a more advanced version, add context to each character.
Walk like a high school sophomore who just won the lottery.
Walk like a basketball player who just lost $10,000.
Walk like a tourist in a city you’ve never seen.
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