What is Subtext?

Pushing this just beneath the surface of the dialogue is what makes plays exciting and helps keep audiences in their seats. Subtext is the unspoken thoughts and motives of your characters - what they really think and believe. In well-written dialogue, Subtext seldom breaks through the surface of the dialogue except in moments of extreme Conflict. At other times, it colours the dialogue. Another way of looking at this . . . Subtext is Content Underneath The Spoken Dialogue And subtext gives the performers something to do. If you let your characters tell each other everything they think or feel, actors can't do what they're trained to do best: revealing through gesture, intonation, and expression, the real essence of a character. =============================================== EXAMPLE OF SUBTEXT FROM THE INTERNET

DIRECTING THE ACTOR - objective, obstacle, subtext, adjustment, choices, objective

 

 

 

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