How Do You Direct Dialogue From Actors In Plays?
“STEVE CAVERNO: Steve Caverno, on behalf of Expert Village, here to talk to you today about dialogue. Now, we’re going to go through dialogue directions. Okay, what are dialogue directions? “Dialogue directions” is basically telling an actor how to say a line. So, let’s take the line “No, I’m not.” This is a pretty generic line. It could be said “No I’m not.” It could be said “No! I’m not!” It could be said “No-oh! I’m not.” So, this could be like the last example, amused. “No, I’m not.” It’s kinda just laughing off or it could be angry, “No! I’m not!” Or it could be perhaps a little offended, “No. I’m not.” So, you can kind of use a little description right before it in the “parentheticals.” That’s how you would use the prescription. Also, let’s say, there’s a need to say–say it softly. Perhaps you don’t want people to interpret that it should be said softly. So, you want to say, “No, I’m not.” So, at that point, you can give the actor some cues. Now, these aren’t as common nowadays
