Actioning for Actors: 5 Misconceptions Holding You Back

Actioning is the technique of assigning transitive verbs to individual thoughts or lines of dialogue which express the underlying intention.

I excite you. I dismiss you. I attack you.

Actioning helps actors find greater specificity, clarify intention and make bold, surprising choices. I’ve seen it unlock new possibilities in the actors I work with, but I’ve also seen how easily it can be misunderstood and become restrictive.

Firstly, let’s establish that actions are intrinsic to human communication. Our thoughts and speech are rich in nuance, colour, intention and specificity. When good acting is happening, actions are being played whether the actor is using the technique or not. An actor might never have heard of actioning and yet play actions deftly in performance.

Actioning should be freeing, yet often it has the opposite effect, and that comes down to a few common misconceptions.

Misconception 1: I should choose actions that match what I want the other person to feel

If I want the other person to feel hurt, I play to hurt. Possibly – not necessarily. It depends on the context and the overarching tactic.

In a heated argument following a betrayal, I might choose to amuse on the line, “I wasted the last two years of my life with you.” I’m genuinely attempting to amuse my partner in the moment, masking my own pain with laughter, but what I really want is to hurt them.

In Skyfall, Javier Bardem as Silva brilliantly caresses Bond’s chest and legs whilst delivering a monologue about rats eating each other. There are moments when Bardem fully commits to the action to seduce, but he isn’t really pursuing sex in that moment. Through seduction, he is trying to assert his power and destabilise Bond.

There is the action you’re immediately playing and there’s the wider tactic. Many actors are clear on their tactics but lose the moment-to-moment detail.

Sometimes unexpected actions can be extremely effective. Andrew Scott’s Moriarty in Sherlock and Johnny Flynn’s Frankie Cooper in MobLand are great examples of actors utilising light, charming and playful actions to create a profound sense of menace and power.

Misconception 2: Actioning limits me to a single way of performing, stifling instinct and freedom

Actions can be played across three dimensions: vocal, physical and spatial.

Take: to intimidate.

You might play with proximity – keeping your distance or invading the other character’s personal space. Physically, you could explore stillness, a relaxed posture or something more imposing and dominant. Vocally, you might experiment with softness, warmth, lightness, grit, pitch.

The same action can be played in countless ways. Your spatial choices can change in the moment, your voice is free to respond, your body can remain alive to impulse, but the underlying intention always remains specific. And if your scene partner gives you something completely unexpected, you might find yourself changing the action altogether.

In rehearsal, I’d encourage actors to explore a variety of actions rather than settling on the first one that works.

Misconception 3: I have to action every line

Actioning every line can be useful as a training exercise, much like marking all the units and beats in a script. It can stimulate a more in-depth exploration of the character and relationships, and inspire new ideas in performance.

Equally, actioning just one tricky line might springboard you into the text in a completely new way.

Sometimes it’s better to begin with the performance; improvise, play and go with your instinct. Get up in the space and do the thing, and then you can go back to the text with your discoveries. Working with the text gives you the opportunity to choose actions that are not instinctive, and that could lead you somewhere really exciting.

With time and experience, you’ll find yourself spending less time analysing and annotating, and more time intuiting.

Misconception 4: I have to have a good vocabulary

A good vocabulary helps, but if you get stuck, there’s Actions: The Actors’ Thesaurus (book or app) by Marina Caldarone and Maggie Lloyd-Williams to help you fill in the blanks. Sometimes the exercise of seeking out the right verb can help you find clarity or lead you to new possibilities.

If you really can’t find the perfect verb, make it up! Your definitions don’t have to make sense to anyone else, as long as they’re absolutely specific to you.

Misconception 5: I don’t need to action, my work is already specific

Great actors do this work intuitively and may not need to write down their actions. But a lot of the time, I find actors blur the lines between two neighbouring actions. What’s the difference between patronise and belittle, worry and scare, assure and reassure, or threaten and intimidate? I would suggest that someone who threatens is often trying to prevent something they fear, whereas someone who intimidates may be asserting power and control. The same line played with either action can tell a very different story.

I also find that actors have their own set of actions that they gravitate towards and feel most comfortable with. When we start to explore actioning, unexplored verbs take us out of our comfort zone into new territory. Once you know exactly what it means to play that action, it’s added to your toolkit, ready whenever you need it.

“Actioning should always be seen as a way of sounding deeper, clearer, and more contrasting ‘notes’ within an overall performance that remains at all times alive, reactive and instinctual.”

– Nick Moseley, author of Actioning and How to Do It

Ultimately, I want actors to get up and play actions immediately without thinking about it, delivering detailed and believable performances. But some of the most common notes I find myself giving to actors are: “You’re between two choices,” “You’re not fully committing to a choice,” or even “You’re not doing anything with that line at all.”

When done right, actioning can liberate, inform and focus your work, reveal more about the text, and stretch your range as an actor.