Free Write 11/7

The authors of A Practical Handbook for the Actor often treat characters as an illusion. This illusion is something the audience needs to create for themselves-- the actor shouldn't manufacture emotion onstage. This is something I disagree with. Sure, the audience's minds create the rest of the illusion, but the cast and crew need to start it. Without an actor's emotion onstage, the scene will not be believable, and the illusion will be broken. Most scenes are centered around emotion, and are built almost solely upon it. For example, in The Phantom of the Opera, if Christine does not display her love for her father, or her fear and compassion for the Phantom, the credibility of the entire musical would be put in jeopardy. Emotion is so important, it cannot just be cast aside as the audience's responsibility.