Hey everyone! I've run across a minor snag in planning and I was wondering if I could garner some advice here.

In the book I'm working from, my character tends to imagine himself saying/doing something really cool, and then you see him say/do something far less cool. It doesn't move the plot along per se, so it wouldn't be a big loss if it were cut, but it does add to the comedic value of the script so I'd love to keep it if possible to add to the characterization.

My problem is I'm adapting to the stage (far less versatile than the screen in terms of special effects), so I'm wondering if you have any ideas on how to execute this in a way that makes it clear what's happening?

(x-posted to Adaptations)

I've thought about doing something similar and one of the ideas I had for the stage was to have all the other characters freeze, lights come down spotlight on the guy and he looks right at the audience makes his inward thought witty comment and then lights come back up and he says his real thoughts. Think you could do something like that?

The only issue with that would be if it was frequent occurrence, the constant freezing and unfreezing and changing lights could become obnoxious.
You could just use an aside comment to the audience.
Or you could have other actors on a platform sort of thing upstage, acting out the ideal situation, and the the real characters do what really happens front and center.

Well, there doesn't need to be any kind of lighting change. You can direct comments at the audience without it. Just make the witty comment or whatever and aside to the audience.

I think the lighting trick is a good suggestion, but if it's a frequent thing then (as a lighting tech myself) try to avoid such intricate sequences.

I do agree with the poster just before me; or perhaps a mixture of the suggestions. Perhaps freeze the other actors, have the internal thoughts directed at the audience and then continue.

Alternatively, you could get clever with an off-stage actor doing a voice over, but that could get confusing for the audience if it isn't made clear who is supposed to be speaking.

There are plenty of examples of characters talking directly to the audience to represent internal thought. The other characters don't even need to freeze - if they simply don't react to anything being said by the person speaking, the audience are quite able to understand the convention.

However, you do need to set up the convention early - preferably right at the start - as it could cause confusion if introduced part way though the play.

David

... OR you could just split that character into two different parts-- (Let's say his name is Tim.)
Tim- the one the other characters hear and react to
Imaginary Tim- Actual Tim's conscience, his internal voice and fantasy self.

I don't even think they'd necessarily have to look alike... Actual Tim might be chubby and unkempt, while his imagined self looks like Brad Pitt and has all the right things to say. It could be a fun little convention-- both Tim's could interact with each other. Actual Tim could send in Imaginary Tim when he needs to be cool. Or Imaginary Tim could take over. Who knows-- lots of fun opportunity for comedy there, though, I would think.

Break a leg!

There are a number of ways you can do this. A voice-over is simple and effective depending on how long the monologue or dialogue would be. Too long and it woudl be monotonous. You might want to play with multi-media. A video of the imagined scened projected on a scrim? Or even the words in print projected on the cyc? Just some thoughts.

Well for me it depends. If its really really exaggerated then you could just have the actor play the scene twice.

For instance

Guy looking for a car: Don't bother with the hard sell. I mean the color is great and interior is nice but I'm not sure I'm in the right place financially right now and I've got lots of debt from school-

(to audience)

is what I should have said

(line starts again)

don't bother with the hard sell- I love this car and I'm buying it right now!

I think it makes sense to break the fourth wall in your situation. Most of the time the audience digs actors breaking the 4th wall. I mean the audience knows the actor is there. The actor knows the audience is there. The audience knows the actor knows the audience is there. There's no need to not throw in some stuff straight to the audience.

You could just have your character first deliver the line to the audience -- let the laughter die-down, then re-deliver the butchered comment to the other character(s).

I saw something like this in a play once.
The character(s) said their shpeel, then they paused and asked "Did I/we really just say that?", after which they pulled a rewind and just re-said the interaction with what really happened.