![]() Dear Nurse Ansalong: I've recently started playing Magenta in our local cast and I've always tried to make my performance as screen-accurate as possible. Our cast hands out "comment cards" at the end of every show asking for the audience's comments on the show and what might be done to improve it. Since I started playing Magenta, we have received a lot of cards telling us to "make sure to bring back the new Magenta", "don't get rid of the new Magenta", and so forth. People have even added that they were "very turned on" by my performance. I was flattered at first, but Marla (our director) is now giving me the impression that that was not what was supposed to be done. Is my performance all wrong or does Marla just have a different interpretation of the character? -Roxanne Roxanne, if you are getting that kind of reaction from the audience, then whatever you are doing in your performance is a good thing. We're all doing this to entertain and those comments definately sound like they are being entertained. That being said, it is also possible that there are facets of your performance that the Director doesn't think are good. It could be anything from different interpretations of the character to the personality of your performance to many other things. It could even be something like just a different idea of the way that the character would act within the scene. All of these could come into play within a situation like this. Try to sit down for a couple minutes to talk to the Director about the situation. You two might just need some time to set up an understanding about the differences that you have concerning the performance. Make sure to be open to what she has to say and be willing to listen even if the comments are bad. This way both of you will get to hear an explanation of why you're feeling the ways that you are and will hopefully have a better relationship afterwards. Good luck with talking to her and I hope that you go on entertaining the audience like it sounds like you've been doing! |