Overacting and other ways to kill a performance

There's nothing that kills a performance faster than underacting, unless it's overacting.  And to be honest, I would rather watch someone with too little energy than too much.  Too little energy is dull to watch, but an "over the top" performance gives me the feeling I'm being manipulated.  It's as though the performer is so concerned that he or she will not reach the audience, they overcompensate and try too hard.  I know you have seen this happen.  Perhaps you have been there yourself!

But let's be clear.  Performance energy is not like a volume knob.  You don't just dial it up to the right level, somewhere in the middle, because the question isn't "how much is correct", it's "how much is believable", and of course the answer is always "it depends!"  It depends entirely on the scene, and your part in the scene.  [And as usual, when I talk about a scene, it could be a literal scene like in a play, or a figurative scene like a musical performance.]  If you're depressed or dying of old age in the scene, or singing a baby to sleep, low energy please.  If the scene is a raging argument or a sword fight, pour it on!  Making the wrong choice would be either a disaster or a stab at comedy.  But if you're clear about the scene and your intentions, and you didn't grow up with wolves, it should be pretty easy to make the right choice!

The same idea applies to loudness in a musical piece, and by the way to most other technical aspects of a performance.  There's very little point in arguing whether a passage should be loud or soft, unless you're tying the discussion back to the purpose of the scene.  You can use the discussion to clarify and flesh-out the scene, so everyone is on the same page.

People have exquisite radar for the inauthentic and the unbelievable.  I suppose it has always been a survival skill for our species.  So don't try to fool them - you can't.

Stage performance only works when the audience is willing to suspend their disbelief, and go along with the assumptions you've set up.  A blank stage can be anything - a kitchen, a bar, a pirate ship - and the amazing human mind will go along with it, as long as the performers go there first, and stay there.  That's another reason why you should never trouble yourself with creating an impact.  You can't control the impact, so it's a waste of your time, and every bit of attention you waste on trying to have an impact is a distraction from the scene, the objective, and what really matters in an authentic performance.

Having worked with many groups, it's really clear to me that without a shared understanding of the scene and the objective, it's hard to get anything right.  But when everyone is on the same page with that shared understanding, it's hard to get anything wrong.