> However, on the stage ... I'm not so sure ... your fellow actors might not be so flexible and you might need to help them.
Isn't this why they do stage rehearsals? Not so much to memorize the lines, but to see how each plays off the other actors. And it is while rehearsing that they can detect that something "isn't working".
To me, what Michael Caine is saying seems essential for the stage, even more so than for cinema. For cinema, you can reshoot if a line or interaction feels unnatural. For theater you don't have this luxury.
If you are saying out loud "memorized lines" you're really not paying attention to the other actor. Some theater is deliberately "artificial", but a lot isn't. And they definitely want to play off what the other actors are saying, otherwise it feels mechanical... which is what happens in unprofessional or kids' plays, everyone is "reciting" and it doesn't feel like a real play!
Isn't this why they do stage rehearsals? Not so much to memorize the lines, but to see how each plays off the other actors. And it is while rehearsing that they can detect that something "isn't working".
To me, what Michael Caine is saying seems essential for the stage, even more so than for cinema. For cinema, you can reshoot if a line or interaction feels unnatural. For theater you don't have this luxury.
If you are saying out loud "memorized lines" you're really not paying attention to the other actor. Some theater is deliberately "artificial", but a lot isn't. And they definitely want to play off what the other actors are saying, otherwise it feels mechanical... which is what happens in unprofessional or kids' plays, everyone is "reciting" and it doesn't feel like a real play!