MAR
11

Cue the Waterworks

By Christina Hamlett 

Former actress and director Christina Hamlett is an award-winning author whose credits to date include 52 books, 276 stage plays and squillions of articles on the performing arts.  www.authorhamlett.com. 

Probably the most famous — and undoubtedly the most cruelly manipulative — trick of a director to elicit tears on demand from an actor was in 1931 when director Norman Taurog was trying to get 9-year-old Jackie Cooper to cry.  Desperate for results, Taurog not only threatened to kill Cooper’s canine co-star (Cooper’s own dog, incidentally) but also had the pooch carried off the soundstage and a gun subsequently fired.  Yes, it opened the floodgates...  along with serving to traumatize Cooper for life.

If you’re directing a scene where your actors need to cry, you want it to look authentic.  Unlike a film, however, where you might be able to capture it once with a shocking threat, a stage play requires your actors to deliver the same tears on demand for every performance.  Here are a few tips to make that happen successfully.

Think of something sad

This is a chestnut we constantly hear.  Everyone has had some sort of sorrow in their lives — death of a relative, loss of a pet, an inconsolable break-up.  While these memories may be easy to conjure, they also present an unnecessary distraction.  If your actors are thinking of anything other than the play itself, it takes them that much longer to get back into character and focus.  Certainly nothing wrong with this device if used in rehearsal but please don’t count on it during actual performance.

The stare-down

Have you ever participated in a stare-down with someone?  If you stare at something or someone and keep your eyes wide open for 30-45 seconds, your eyes will start to well up with tears.  Standing in front of a high-speed fan before the stare-down is effective, too.

Is there an onion in the house?

If your actors are offstage just before a teary scene, have them cut up some fresh onions.  When cut, onions release a gas called syn-propanethial-S-oxide.  This gas subsequently triggers the pain receptors in your nose and eyes and causes your tear glands to respond with free-flowing moisture to wash the irritant away.

Menthol tear sticks

If used sparingly, menthol sticks dabbed directly under the eyes will create potent fumes to make your peepers water.  These, however, should be used with caution.

Do I feel a yawn coming on?

Have you ever noticed that if someone in your group yawns, it causes others in the group to yawn as well?  You don’t even have to feel sleepy (or bored) for yawns to be artificially induced.  Once they are, the lifting of your soft palate will cause your eyes to start getting wet.

Are you really immersed?

Maybe you as an actor don’t have anything to feel morose about but, for the moment, the character you are playing really does.  If you are truly in sync with the person you are pretending to be, his or her emotions are going to resonate more strongly with you than if you rigidly keep that degree of separation.

Make tears run down your cheeks

Well, not real tears but a little excess of commercial eye drops such as Refresh or Systane just before your scene.

What’s on your playlist?

Without fail there are certain songs from my past which always cause me to tear up.  If you add a few of your own to your Spotify and give a listen right before your scene, it can put you in a weepy mood pretty fast.

Faking it

Lastly, the biggest difference between crying for a camera and crying for an audience 20 feet away from you is that the latter isn’t close enough to see tears glistening in your eyes.  They take all the cues to your distress from your facial expressions, voice, and physicality.  To that end, study crying scenes in movies and incorporate jagged breathing, biting your lower lip, hanging your head, using the heel of your hand to blot away moisture, letting your shoulders cave to look smaller/weaker, alternating your volume (i.e., louder to show anger, softer to show defeat and pain), and nervously looking away from your fellow actors to mask your vulnerability.  If the audience has bought into the breadth of believability you have solidly established for your character’s life and circumstances, they are going to believe the tears you shed are genuine as well, even if they can’t see them.