Nick Lyles

2A

Hudgins

Acting Reflection

The objective I had throughout the scene was clarity. My character Lendall was really confused
when his girlfriend of 11 years, Gayle, Enters his home demanding he return the love she gave him. He’s
so confused that he is speechless at the words Gayles telling him. He doesn’t know what to say at first,
but then throughout he seeks to find the true reason why she’s leaving him, but he just can’t get a clear
understanding of this.

One of the choices I made was too put desperation behind each question I asked. I would realize
the stakes that were at hand, me losing my girlfriend, and put them into my words. This helped me to
achieve that distress in my tone.

Also the pauses I made in the scene, the really silent ones, really displayed the emotions I was
trying to portray, the feeling of not knowing what else to say. My character reached the point where he
couldn’t formulate words anymore. This added to that objective he wasn’t achieving, clarity. What she
was saying to him wasn’t true to him.

My most troubling obstacle, that I face quite a bit, is letting go and really taking the scene to the
next level. I have a habit of not letting my emotions go in the scene like getting mad, or upset, or scared.
I find that I put these barriers up as an actor and try to not do what’s uncomfortable and stick to what is,
but after doing the Shakespeare monologue it’s opened my eyes to stepping out of my comfort zone.

In our first run through I just stuck with what felt comfortable, keeping my voice at the same
level, not showing much emotion and not filling my space. Then my director made me aware of this,
then the next run I went all out, and it felt awesome! It went really well and I really surprised myself. I
tried new things that worked really well for our scene and my character.

The first thing I liked about my character was that he was quite the listener. Throughout the
beginning of the scene he just rolls with the punches and takes it all, then theres a part where he just
snaps and he can’t take it anymore. I chose to play this part silently. Silence is a strong tool as an actor
and I used it to show the level of frustration Lendall had during this moment.

I also liked that he really cared about Gayle. It’s not that he didn’t want to marry Gayle, he just
didn’t know when the right time was. The way I showed this was in the final moments of the scene. He
explains that he kept all this stuff