Use Nerves to your Advantage

All actors experience nervousness right before an audition or performance. Many try to rid themselves entirely of nervousness, but nerves are natural and can add to your performance, rather than take away from it! Do not deny when you are nervous. Accept the fact; acknowledge it and right up until you walk into the room for your audition, verbally state you are nervous. First review the history of your character and their situation and then begin to openly speak your feelings from your characters point of view. For example, if you are performing Nora in “A Doll’s House,” and you’re about to tell your husband you are leaving him, perhaps say, “I am so nervous about what I have to say, but I have to tell him the truth. I have to let him know how I feel and I have to get this message across to him. I cannot be intimidated. He has to know and even though I am nervous, I have to do this. I have to tell him.” The whole idea is to transfer your nerves into the mindset of your character and apply it towards their confrontation with the person they are speaking to. By doing so, you are using your nervousness to your advantage by making it applicable to your character. Actors put such a pressure on themselves to hide all signs of nervousness and it is just not realistic. Nerves can bring more truth to your character and, if applied the right way, can be the most powerful part of your performance. It’s real. The actor must understand in that moment, the person their character is speaking to is the most vital person in the world with whom they are having the most important conversation, so, naturally, they will have nerves. It’s about being desperate to fufill the needs of the character in what they are trying to express and realizing how important it is to them. Before your audition, while you are waiting to be called, do your monologue aloud (do not be shy, everyone does it, but be respectful to others) and when it comes to an end with your highest moment, start your monologue immediately at the beginning again, using your energy to boost yourself even bigger than your first time! When you are finally called, take command over that stage and give it your all, always building to give your best performance. Welcome those nerves and use them to your advantage! While waiting for your next audition, do not feel as though you have nothing to practice. Daily read over your monologues and other materials that will enhance your auditions in the future. Read novels and textbooks to reveal different personalities you can relate to in the future with other characters. The more understanding you have of other people’s experiences in newspapers, articles, etc., the more you will be able to apply real life and empathic emotions to your future characters that you will play. Hello nerves, We’ve been waiting for you. –Actors Nook Team