Kissing scenes
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Directing
Forum Discription: For questions about handling shows, actors, crew, board members, children ...or do we repeat ourselves?
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1704
Printed Date: 5/04/24 at 1:59am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Kissing scenes
Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Subject: Kissing scenes
Date Posted: 11/01/05 at 12:55pm
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We are doing a comedy, "Meanwhile back on the Couch" by Jack Sharkey.
There are several kissing scenes and I was wondering if you all have
any advice on directing this type of thing. I am sure the actors will
be a little nervous and/or cautious at first. How do I get them to
relax and get into it? These are not teenage actors. We are a community theater in a senior community. All are in their late 50s or early 60s and happily married. Barb ------------- Barb Hofmeister, MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona. |
Replies:
Posted By: Joan54
Date Posted: 11/01/05 at 1:19pm
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I think that kissing is sort of like crying( read that great thread)...if you get the physical appearance of the kiss right - position of hands, tilt of the head, the pause, the swoop, the long look ...then you don't really have to be mashing mouths together. Some contact - yes - but not as much as in a real kiss. Maybe your actors would be comfortable with just a slight pressure of lips. On the other hand I don't think that a forthright mention of mouthwash and breathmints is out of line. Everyone has bad breath when you're not in love with them. ------------- "behind a thin wall of logic panic is waiting to stampede" |
Posted By: DWolfman
Date Posted: 11/01/05 at 4:30pm
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If you are working in a proscenium stage, the standard "stage kiss" is for the male to turn his back to the audience and "assume the position" with the female corresponding. Depending on how far away the audience is, with the rest of the bodies conveying the emotion and the "kiss", the lips never actually have to touch. With several kissing scenes in the production, you probably want to vary the approach: a brush of lips, a peck on the cheek, different approaches and positions creating the same cover and impact. The application of breath mints and mouthwash is seconded here. No matter whether the actors are teens, adults, or senior adults, the necessary trust (on many parts, including non-involved spouses) and closeness of kissing scenes always seem to be sensitive situations. ------------- Even a man who is pure of heart... |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 11/01/05 at 6:34pm
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I avoid, side step or cut the mushy bits out in a production. I believe
they are not necessary & if they are relevant to the script, I
always try to leave it to the punters imagination. The ones at the end
of a scene are easy - fade to blackout, before impact! The odd one that can?t be avoided are handled as Wolfman suggests. My old mate, who is a fellow techie, has always complained whenever he gets to play a part, that he never gets to snog the bird on stage - He has finally got his wish! He is playing Emile de Becque in South Pathetic & he gets to snog Ens. Nellie Forbush. He rang me up & asked the question of how he could avoid the kissy bit, I advised him that I had no sympathy for him & laughed saying I could not see any way around it at all! His only possible chance to get out of it & avoid the ?Bird Flu?, was by pulling the pin & just doing the lighting!  That will teach him for having a fantastic Welsh baritone voice & being at the theatre during audition time! [Half his luck as she actually is a gorgeous young girl who is playing Ens Forbush!]  ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 11/01/05 at 7:28pm
Interesting. We called our production "Sorry Pathetic" - and, trust me, it was. What makes community theatres think that dark make up will turn cute suburban blondes into polynesian natives? - or somehow the local dance school's chorus boys are going to be remotely believable as seabees? argh |
Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 11/01/05 at 8:52pm
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I'm sure I've addressed this issue on other posts,
but BOTH actors need to understand that a staged kiss is no more than a set of blocking used by the playwright or the director to convey their message. Oddly enough, it should be treated the same as a staged fight. Trust needs to be established, boundaries set, and the action choreographed to avoid injury or embarrassment. Whenever I direct a scene like this, I always defer to the Female Actor and her sense of boundaries or propriety. If either actor is reluctant or uncomfortable, I try to assuade that issue by asking them, "How do you think the CHARACTER would behave in this situation?" This gives them the opportunity to say something like, "Well SHE (or HE) would probably .... [fill in the blank]." Whatever choice they make, it becomes understood that it is the CHARACTERS that are kissing, not the actors. The actors are mere vessels which the characters inhabit. And -- above all -- do NOT send your actors off to rehearse the kissing scenes "on their own." Your presence ensures everything remains businesslike. ------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Date Posted: 11/02/05 at 12:24am
Great information. Thanks a bunch. Barb ------------- Barb Hofmeister, MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona. |
Posted By: JPilkonis
Date Posted: 5/01/06 at 11:27am
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Personally, I don't believe in "stage kisses." There are enough elements onstage that you have to fake by necessity, and a kiss isn't one of them. During the casting process, I'll always ask those auditioning whether they'd have a problem kissing, so that when we get into production, they have been duly warned.
The most difficult kissing scene I had to assemble involved two teenagers, who broke into giggles at the very thought of having to kiss onstage. I remedied that by holding a special rehearsal closed to everyone by myself, the two actors, and my AD. I made them run through the two kissing scenes dozens of times, until the novelty was gone. It took a while for the rest of the cast to get used to seeing the scene without snickering, but the key was getting the two principles comfortable. Everything fell into place after that. |
Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 5/01/06 at 6:15pm
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Be sure to tell the participants that tongues are not a feature of a
stage kiss. During one local production the actor who kissed two
women during the show was told repeatedly by both women to keep his
tongue in his own mouth but either they didn't tell the director or he
felt "uncomfortable" relaying the info to said actor. The result
was he nearly had his tongue (deservedly) bitten off by one of the gals
during tech week. He has, to my knowledge, never been cast locally in a large role ever since. ------------- Investigate. Imagine. Choose. |
Posted By: radiantshadow
Date Posted: 5/03/06 at 12:51pm
| I second the bit about the stage fighting metaphor -- the other thing to do, besides setting boundaries and all, is to talk about the purpose of the kiss. Just like a fight or a line, a kiss is communicating something. Is the kiss about true love? Is it about power? Ownership? Nervousness? Is one character in love but the other trying to make a friend jealous? If you talk about what the kiss is trying to accomplish, I think the rehearsal will go much more smoothly. Going through the dramatic purpose of the kiss sets it up as something driven by characters,a nd will probably give you the type of kiss that you're looking for. |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 5/03/06 at 1:49pm
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Hey.... I can't knock the stage kiss one way of the other... It's how I got my wife! But seriously, great discussion ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: jcorkran
Date Posted: 5/04/06 at 4:42pm
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This has already been talked to death, but I have to concur with the fact that your actors need to understand that the CHARACTERS are doing the kissing and what that means to your story. I was recently in a production that required my character to kiss a character played by my ex-daughter-in-law. Obviously, a rather strange situation at best. Once we discussed the fact that it was essential to the characters, she was fine with it and it didn't seem strange at all. But no tongue. Ever. |
Posted By: Bailey
Date Posted: 7/22/06 at 8:43pm
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Could someone please give me a step by step of a stage kiss? I have always done the real thing when I had a kissing scene, but I am directing two teens in The Music Man who may have a problem, or their parents might, with the real thing and I would like to be prepared. |