🎭 Here’s your invite to From Surface to Soul: A Free Method Acting Class in Emotional Mastery happening Sunday 28th September – discover how to unlock emotional depth and make your next performance your best yet: GRAB YOUR PLACE HERE

Rachel McAdams’ audition for The Notebook is legendary... not because she had weeks to prepare, but because she had almost no time at all. She simply read the script, felt an instant connection to the character, learned the lines, and trusted herself to live truthfully in the moment.

That audition cycled the panel through a whirlwind of emotions and ultimately landed her one of the roles that defined her career.

In this episode, I break down what made her audition so powerful and what you can learn from it, especially if you’ve ever felt underprepared or short on time. We’ll explore how Method Acting techniques like sense memory, personalisation, affective memory and rampaging can help you fuse imagination with your own life experience. These tools become second nature with practice, allowing you to walk into any audition and deliver raw, truthful, unforgettable performances... even on short notice.

Because practice doesn’t make perfect... it makes progress. And progress is what gets you closer to that breakthrough role.

✨ Want to learn a repeatable way to connect to emotions on cue, just like Rachel did in her audition? Join me live for From Surface to Soul: A Free Method Acting Class in Emotional Mastery on Sunday 28th September: GRAB YOUR PLACE HERE

Support the show

INSTA: @standbymethodactingstudio

WEB: standbymethod.com

FREE THE ESSENTIAL METHOD ACTING HANDBOOK: http://pages.standbymethod.com/freeactingbook

Here’s your invite to the free emotions class on Sun 28th Sept → [claim your place]

There was one stage direction that used to absolutely terrify me as an actor: “the character reacts in surprise.”

If you’ve ever dreaded seeing that in a script, you’ll know the feeling — instead of actually being surprised, you start anticipating the moment. Your mind races: “How do I make this look real? What if it looks fake? What if I overdo it?” Suddenly, you’re stuck in your head, watching yourself perform instead of living truthfully in the moment.

In this episode, I’m opening up about my own struggles with this stage direction and sharing how I finally mastered it. You’ll discover:

• Why mental tension grows when you anticipate emotions (and how to dissolve it).
• The role of relaxation in keeping your connection authentic.
• How I used substitution to move away from fake reactions and into genuine ones.
• A practical way to approach surprise (and other tricky emotions) that keeps you connected, consistent, and confident.

This is a must-listen if you’ve ever felt blocked, fake, or overacted in moments where the script demands emotional truth.

✨ Want to go deeper into emotional mastery? On Sunday 28th Sept (6:30–8:30pm UK time, online via Zoom) I’m teaching a free Method Acting class where we’ll work with a meaty scene and practice simplifying emotions so you can connect to real feeling in every rehearsal, self-tape, and performance.

👉 Reserve your free spot here

Support the show

INSTA: @standbymethodactingstudio

WEB: standbymethod.com

FREE THE ESSENTIAL METHOD ACTING HANDBOOK: http://pages.standbymethod.com/freeactingbook

Stage directions like “a single tear rolls down her face” can feel intimidating — almost impossible to live up to without losing connection. In this episode, I share how to simplify your emotional work so you stop obsessing over the stage directions and start focusing on what really matters: truthful connection.

You’ll discover:
✨ The 6 key emotions every actor should master in the early stages of emotional work
✨ A simple, effective method for using these emotions without overwhelm
✨ How to replace pressure with presence, so your performances feel grounded, authentic and moving

This episode is all about unlocking emotional power in your scenes in a way that feels natural, consistent, and repeatable.

🌹 And before we dive in — I’m teaching a free Method Acting class on emotional mastery on 28th Spetember. If you want to learn how to access real emotion in every rehearsal, take, and self tape, you can save your spot here

Or if you know you want to get straight into 10-weeks of deep dive emotional work, check out the final 10-Week Method Acting Module of 2025: Affective Memory here

Support the show

INSTA: @standbymethodactingstudio

WEB: standbymethod.com

FREE THE ESSENTIAL METHOD ACTING HANDBOOK: http://pages.standbymethod.com/freeactingbook