Florence Masebe offers tips for aspiring actors

Actor Florence Masebe has been kind enough to offer free advice for aspiring actors and those who have already made it.

In a series of tweets, Masebe says even veterans continue to get acting and voice coaching. “The training is ongoing. There’s always room to improve.” She says, however, as a voice coach, most clients don’t like her on the first day because of her honesty.

“The real trick to the whole acting is this … Don’t act,” she tweets, adding that there are actors who confuse vulgarity for good acting.

Here are a few tips she shared with the hashtag #FreeTipsForActors:

• Also… respect your script. You don’t always have to embellish what the writers gave you.
• Find your character’s layers. Peel away and use them all. Audiences want a multidimensional performance.
• Don’t compete with your fellow actors in a scene. You don’t have to shine in every frame.
• It’s disrespectful not to know your work. Read the whole script. Not just the scenes you are in.
• Not every delivery has to be big. In fact contained performances can be your strongest. Overacting is really not nice.
• Respect your team. Every single one of them. Not just the stars and the bosses.
• Take direction. It’s the director’s picture really.
• Enjoy the work. It will show in your performance.
• This acting thing looks easy. It’s serious work though. The ones who make it look easiest are probably the most hardworking.
• It’s disrespectful not to know your work. Read the whole script. Not just the scenes you are in.
• The craft of acting has no space for ego. Be prepared to be vulnerable.
• When building a character, it’s important to leave your cool self at the door. Then you’re in a position to give your character all you got.
• An actor has to be willing to make a fool of themselves if that is what their character requires. Take down your walls and shine.
• Great actors are not afraid to make unsafe choices. Don’t go for the obvious. There’s always more ways to approach your script.
• There are 2 important tools you need in your work as an actor. 1. Your body. 2. Your voice. Look after them please.
• There is more to acting than saying the lines written in your script. Listen and respond. Acting is not recitation.
• Unless it’s part of a preparation & improvisation exercise, please avoid OTT (OverTheTop) delivery. Audience will cringe.
• Watch other thespians at work. Learn from them, but don’t mimick what they do. Make your own choices for your character.
• Make a habit of watching your work in critical mode. Find your faults and weaknesses and fix them as you grow.

Responding to a follower who said there were actors who were difficult to work with, Masebe said most actors she knew were professional, “mathata ke disuperstar tsa lona (the problem is your superstars) that get hired for their social media following”.