ON ACTING: Actor Awareness

When the actor "thinks" onstage, that is, is consciously aware of their actor-self in performance, watching everything "his character" does and says onstage, he is in effect inserting an unnatural extra beat or circuit of actor-thinking before or after or during each moment in the scene. That extra mental act of awareness that the actor inserts before or after saying a line of dialogue, or other action in the scene throws off the rhythm of a scene, disturbs the natural and recognizable life flow of the scene.

And the audience becomes aware of the unreality of the actor's real emotional performance life; and distances itself from the actor's work, and the scene.