ON ACTING: Impulsivity

Characters in exciting acting don't look before they leap. They may glance about perhaps for a long moment or two, but they always leap. They don't count to ten, they count to four; and act and say...they are impulsive. That is why story characters make fools of themselves (comedy) or suffer (or exalt) in their lives (tragedy and drama): they are impatient, fast-twitched characters seeking a desperate goal.

The old adage reads: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." Amendment: "Fools and exciting actors rush in where angels and dull people fear to tread."

That does not mean, however, that that good acting is only a fast-paced activity. It can be slow; with deep elongated pauses between lines and actions. But...the energy within those pauses--during any and all reality induced cessations of activity--is highly inner-activating; there is a lot of vibrant, fast-twitching inside the actor/character's body and mind, the spinning of his or her wheels, racing internally, to choose, to decide, to act...impulsively.