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Method Acting and the Young

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The boy with a stuttering problem was worried about how he would perform a monologue for an upcoming play. During a workshop exercise where participants took on roles as experts and gave speeches, the boy struggled when it was his turn and reverted to stuttering. This was an emotional moment for the boy and audience. Later, the boy was able to confidently deliver a message without stuttering, surprising the audience. After the performance, the boy no longer had issues with stuttering and considered portraying a stuttering character but decided against it for fear of disrupting the flow of the play.

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The situation
The following situation occurred: a boy with a stuttering problem would need to perform a large monologue in their group's next selected play. Throughout the first workshop sessions, he had been constantly monitoring his reputation. He was concerned with being treated differently in some way, for his stuttering problem. Even though in complete contradiction with the group's attitude towards such situations, his concern was understandable. Unfortunately, it was also in complete contradiction with the basics of method acting. The more the others hinted at his approach, the subtler it became, but it was always there.
The incident
That day, the exercises had little to do with method acting, but they were useful and fun. The boy volunteered to play the Expert among the first. With a nonchalant smile that was every bit calculated, he told everybody that he would overcome his problem by the time the play would be staged. Nobody had doubted that. The exercise started well, but when the boy's turn came, the Expert mumbled a few unintelligible sounds and stopped. There was no Expert onstage, delivering a one minute improvised speech on a crazy topic. Fun was gone, and the helpless boy with his stuttering problem replaced the onstage Expert. The boy's glare in complete silence alerted the others back into the real world, and they were watching him with worried faces. Yet there was no other evidence of anything going on. Only seconds were passing, and the
The outcome
When the others felt the exercise was over and whispering started, he reacted surprisingly by speaking, and told everybody, once again, that he was going to succeed by the time the play would be staged. Again, nobody had doubted that. When it came to theater overcoming individual limits, most of those kids had very little doubts. The boy delivered his message without any visible effort, but in a strange husky voice that was very low and caught general attention in an instant. They became a bewildered audience in that instant. Not the theatrical audience of an Expert, not the cheering audience of a training stand-up comedian, but the real-life audience that a stuttering boy had managed so hard to win over. It all lasted just that instant. Then everybody, group and boy, suddenly relaxed. Everybody got back to the workshop naturally, like nothing
Feedback after the workshop
Their group must have seen such moments before, because they discussed the situation among other themes during the next feed-back session. It was almost not there in their questions and their impressions.The trainer did nothing to change that perception of the things going almost well. The boy's impressions were a clear hint at several minutes of psychodrama, and the trainer was well aware of that. Most of the older trainees knew the word already, but they did not recognize the situation. The few ones who did, remained friendly and silent. The boy's progress confirmed the trainer's silent assumption. Whatever had caused the young man to stutter, his problem gradually gave in after that workshop.
Feedback after the performance
Their performance went down well, and they were pleased with themselves when they discussed it. The boy who used to have a stuttering problem confessed of wanting to have his character stutter a bit onstage, now that he did not have that problem anymore. For a moment, it had seemed the logical step further, but then he gave it up, he said. While the younger ones were pondering his confession, one of their 17-year-old leaders asked what had made him stop, and the 15-year-old boy answered that his sudden decision could have jeopardized his onstage interaction with the others. In his particular case, not building a stuttering character during the rehearsal sessions meant that suddenly stuttering onstage could have worried the others out of their acting efforts. He ended jocularly, explaining that his fluent speech had
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Method Acting and the Young

  • 2. The following situation occurred: a boy with a stuttering problem would need to perform a large monologue in their group's next selected play. Throughout the first workshop sessions, he had been constantly monitoring his reputation. He was concerned with being treated differently in some way, for his stuttering problem. Even though in complete contradiction with the group's attitude towards such situations, his concern was understandable. Unfortunately, it was also in complete contradiction with the basics of method acting. The more the others hinted at his approach, the subtler it became, but it was always there.
  • 4. That day, the exercises had little to do with method acting, but they were useful and fun. The boy volunteered to play the Expert among the first. With a nonchalant smile that was every bit calculated, he told everybody that he would overcome his problem by the time the play would be staged. Nobody had doubted that. The exercise started well, but when the boy's turn came, the Expert mumbled a few unintelligible sounds and stopped. There was no Expert onstage, delivering a one minute improvised speech on a crazy topic. Fun was gone, and the helpless boy with his stuttering problem replaced the onstage Expert. The boy's glare in complete silence alerted the others back into the real world, and they were watching him with worried faces. Yet there was no other evidence of anything going on. Only seconds were passing, and the
  • 6. When the others felt the exercise was over and whispering started, he reacted surprisingly by speaking, and told everybody, once again, that he was going to succeed by the time the play would be staged. Again, nobody had doubted that. When it came to theater overcoming individual limits, most of those kids had very little doubts. The boy delivered his message without any visible effort, but in a strange husky voice that was very low and caught general attention in an instant. They became a bewildered audience in that instant. Not the theatrical audience of an Expert, not the cheering audience of a training stand-up comedian, but the real-life audience that a stuttering boy had managed so hard to win over. It all lasted just that instant. Then everybody, group and boy, suddenly relaxed. Everybody got back to the workshop naturally, like nothing
  • 8. Their group must have seen such moments before, because they discussed the situation among other themes during the next feed-back session. It was almost not there in their questions and their impressions.The trainer did nothing to change that perception of the things going almost well. The boy's impressions were a clear hint at several minutes of psychodrama, and the trainer was well aware of that. Most of the older trainees knew the word already, but they did not recognize the situation. The few ones who did, remained friendly and silent. The boy's progress confirmed the trainer's silent assumption. Whatever had caused the young man to stutter, his problem gradually gave in after that workshop.
  • 9. Feedback after the performance
  • 10. Their performance went down well, and they were pleased with themselves when they discussed it. The boy who used to have a stuttering problem confessed of wanting to have his character stutter a bit onstage, now that he did not have that problem anymore. For a moment, it had seemed the logical step further, but then he gave it up, he said. While the younger ones were pondering his confession, one of their 17-year-old leaders asked what had made him stop, and the 15-year-old boy answered that his sudden decision could have jeopardized his onstage interaction with the others. In his particular case, not building a stuttering character during the rehearsal sessions meant that suddenly stuttering onstage could have worried the others out of their acting efforts. He ended jocularly, explaining that his fluent speech had