Subtext

Welcome to Marty Mishlin's
'Acting and You'
A five-week seminar
That teaches you--as actors
To go underneath the text
To find all the treasures that hide under there

Today's class is going to involve
My favorite thing

Subtext

Now I know a lot of you are aspiring actors
Which means you have absolutely no idea
What it means to be subtle

That's what I'm here for

Let's look at a particular line from a play:

'Is that what you mean?'

Now this line might seem simple
But we want to look underneath the line

For example, the character saying this line
Might be angry with the person he or she is talking to--

'Is THAT what you mean?'

See what I did there
I said 'that' like it was in capital letters

'THAT' not 'that'
'THAT' not 'that'
'THAT'--interesting, angry, I HATE YOU!
Not 'that'--boring, snoozefest, how much did we spend on this ticket?

It's all in the subtext

Some people call it inflection
But it's deeper than that

It's about what you're telling the audience
Without telling them

Have you all ever acted on a soap opera?
Of course you haven't
But I have
And let me tell you something
When they hand you that drivel
They call writing
It's your job
To bring out the SUBTEXT

See how I said 'SUBTEXT'
Capital letters, right?

Oh, and eyebrows
Always use your eyebrows
When you want to look dubious

Dubious meaning 'I don't trust you bitches'

Here watch--

'Is that what you MEEEEEEEAN?'

Capital letters
Eyebrow
And I stretched out the 'eeeeee'

That's a little advanced for most of you
But we'll get there
We'll get there

That reminds me
Tuition for week two is due tomorrow
Some of you haven't paid yet

Wait a second
Let me rephrase that

SOME of you haven't paid yet

See what I did there?

I implied that some of you are deadbeats
And the others aren't

I could have just read this list of names
I have here on my clipboard
But all I had to do was say 'SOME'

Capitalization, eyebrow, a quick scan of the room

That's acting, kids
That's acting

All right, now let's take turns
Saying these lines
From 'The Wild Duck'

No, not the Ibsen play
You're not ready for that
This is a kids book
I found in the dentists' office next door

Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day
Or Rome WASN'T built in a day
Or Rome wasn't built in a DAY

See what I did there?

Acting

All acting