It’s a fairly common piece of advice given to early-career and emerging actors: they should pick between stage or screen acting. For career-hungry up-and-comers, it’s not terrible advice, especially when they’re looking for the right place to train or make some initial connections. But sticking with one and not the other can be harmful in your long-term career path. If you’ve ever made that fateful choice to act only on camera, this article is for you: let’s talk about why you should be acting in theatre.
Actors should be acting in theatre and considering stage-based opportunities with the same weight of their on-screen jobs. Theatre is an excellent place to develop skills and network with your creative community, with whom you’ll be able to collaborate for longer and more focused periods of rehearsal. Acting in theatre jobs can also provide longer-term stability for performers by guaranteeing runs or even tours that provide steady income over large periods of the year.
Before we jump in, it’s worth stressing that we’re not anti-screen. In fact, we have a companion article that speaks to the theatre-only diehards in our midst as well. Our main point, the only thing you need to take away is this: if you’re a screen-only or stage-only actor, you miss out on so much work, and so many golden opportunities. Why limit yourself?
Why are we told to ‘Pick a Lane’?
There are a few reasons actors are advised to focus on either film or theatre. While it’s clearly not the advice we’re giving in this article, we will at least acknowledge that the reasons for this are valid. Let’s break down two of the main concerns: that of training and career.
Training
For training, the simple fact is that acting in theatre is markedly different to acting on screen. There’s more vocal work, there’s more physicality, there’s a greater requirement to build up endurance and memorise. Training, across different institutions, tends to focus on one over the other. And so students of those institutions tend to follow suit.
To this point, we’d argue that while the disciplines are different, the fundamentals of acting are the same. The trick is knowing how to pitch a performance to stage or screen, and what skills will be called upon in execution. It’s an adjustment, but nothing that should lock you out of saying yes to particular jobs.
Career
On the subject of jobs: stage and screen work are different in terms of requirements and sacrifices. They aren’t incompatible, but the juggle can be difficult for actors trying to say “Yes!” to everything that comes along.
Screen work tends to pay more, and require less commitment of time (unless you’re off filming in the tundra for a year.) However, it’s infamously sporadic—even if you’re operating primarily in spheres such as TVCs or day-player roles.
Stage work is a financial slog and requires a larger amount of your time, such as rehearsals that happen at odd hours, and commitments to regular shows that may cut you out of opportunities for last-minute auditions. The advantage of stage work is that the right job gives you financial security by way of eight shows a week and a pay-cheque to match. And that show could run or tour for months—even years! And you only work three hours a night.
Why You Should Be Acting in Theatre
Enough pre-amble. Let’s get into it and outline some of the best arguments for acting in theatre:
#1 Theatre Equals Training
Theatre helps you become a better actor. Simple as that. With all the commitments of time and effort you’ll need to invest, you can’t help but to practice your art and up-skill your process.
It’s worth stressing that theatre is no substitute for a three year course or a well-designed acting class. But it’s a process that does allow for you to spend longer periods of time focused on your craft.
#2 Refining Your Performance
Screen acting is about practicing, rehearsing and shooting multiple takes—all to capture that one, ‘perfect’ shot. Acting in theatre is different because it’s not geared towards one singular moment. It’s about finding yourself in that space night after night, and refining and reinforcing the way you get there.
Whether it’s two weeks or six months, a theatrical season gives you the chance to keep exploring your character and story world. And while you don’t want to change your performance too much for the sake of your castmates (and the director, who by this point will have stepped away and left the show in your capable hands), there is room to grow and flex your acting muscles.
We include this point for any screen actor who worries the same show each night might seem like a boring prospect. Every night on stage is a chance to perfect your performance all over again!
#3 Your Body as an Instrument
We mentioned above the training that goes into stage acting in regards to voice and physicality. This is because acting in theatre is a full-body activity: it requires you to inhabit a character completely. (Actually, screen acting is a full-body activity as well—most actors simply forget when the camera isn’t pointing at all of them.)
Without a tight frame to hide behind, you’ll set yourself the challenge on stage to bring a physical presence to your performance. You can command more power and status, and feel how less constrictive movement offers you more dynamic choices.
(#3.5 Your Voice as Well)
As for your voice, that will need considerable work to get it out of that ‘Netflix whisper’ that’s become so popular. When the hell did we start thinking that dropping our voice to next-to-nothing was ‘dramatic’ and ‘effective’? Think back to the last time you tried to make a point or win an argument: were you quiet, or were you loud and clear? Vocal projection equals power, which in turn helps your character pursue their goals.
Finally, vocal work done in theatre can be brought back to a film set with great effectiveness: the worst a director can tell you is “speak a little softer”.
#4 Commanding Space
Once your voice and body are feeling loud and proud, take advantage of the freedom stage work allows. Without having to hit certain marks for DOPs and focus pullers, you can enjoy a much greater sense of movement and openness in theatre.
Yes, you are still bound to stage directions. But unlike a screenplay, playscripts can change and adapt throughout a rehearsal process. You’ll often find you have a greater sense of freedom and agency in the realisation of a stage production than you might on a go-go-go set.
This freedom, this opportunity to command the space and make bold choices, can translate to a tremendous sense of self-confidence. That’s an extremely valuable commodity to take with you in your career, even if that’s back to screen work!
#5 Analysing Text
In a theatre rehearsal, you spend time either with the script or ‘on the floor’. The latter entails the blocking and rehearsing of the action of the stage. Everything before that, which sometimes spans weeks on end, is devoted to script work. Focused analysis of the text, the words, the characters, the story world.
As an actor, you can never do enough script analysis when preparing for a role. Not only is it vital to the delivery of a compelling performance on stage, acting in theatre actually builds this important step right into the process!
#6 A Wealth of Material
Actors new to theatre are often surprised by the strength of the material they work with. Theatre is a writer’s medium, which means that actors benefit directly from the density of the text and the care taken with how stories are crafted. There’s no camera trickery in a theatre—just performers, audience and the empty space.
Theatre helps you appreciate good material, and just how much of it there is (and continues to be written.) It may even inspire you to create something for yourself to perform.
It’s also worth considering the rich history of play-texts that you may encounter in a theatre career. Unlike film, which is geared to the production of the new, you might encounter a play thousands of years old. We guarantee you’ll still find something new to do with it.
#7 Expanding Your Community
Theatre circles tend to be smaller than those in the film industry—and more localised. It’s likely that working in theatre will introduce (and indoctrinate) you into a tight-knit community of actors and creatives. It’s a fiercely loyal and supportive space, and one that is highly enriching for your career and progression as an artist.
Here at StageMilk, we stress the importance of what we call the “creative community”. These are the people in your life on a similar path, who will ‘get’ what you do more than even your most supportive family or friends. You’ll find them in force in a theatre career: you’ll work together, grow like family and then encounter each other time and time again in other shows, rehearsal rooms, theatre foyers and the bar across the road.
#8 Enriching Your Acting Career
Last point. If we haven’t swayed you with our thoughts on acting in theatre yet—guided by the way it challenges, enriches and improves every aspect of your process—hear us on this point at the very least.
Acting in theatre opens you up to a whole other world of career opportunities. If you don’t try acting for stage, your acting prospects literally halve themselves.
Conclusion
So there you have it: the low-down on why you should be acting in theatre. Hopefully we’ve swayed you towards the stage, or at least ignited a curiosity that might see you catching more shows in the near future.
Remember: this article was not an argument one way or the other towards screen or stage, so be on the lookout for a companion piece on the benefits of screen acting as well. At the end of the day, we want you saying a big, confident “yes” to everything!
Good luck!