Theatre practitioner Stanislavski maintained that only 10% of what’s actually going on in our heads is expressed through words, the remaining 90% lies bedded beneath the script. This is subtext, and in Stanislavski’s own words, “[subtext] flows uninterruptedly beneath the words of the text, giving them life and a basis for existing… It is the subtext that makes us say the words we do in a play”. Or for our sake, a film.
Here is a list of action (actor) verbs useful for helping the actor’s process of creating a subtext. Of course, this isn’t the definitive list of lists. A lot of verbs are missing from it. Verbs that are commonly mistaken for actor’s verbs are the ones that require several actions or are not pursuable without words. Such as “to build,” which is an activity or result.
“To question as to whether an action verb is doable, you have to measure the ability of the actor to pursue the action readily without any dialogue.”
Verb List
Essentially, does it immediately make one think of something that one can pursue without speaking? If it does, it is an actor’s verb, and these words will immediately enable the actor to respond and (hopefully) give you the performance you need.
To accuse
To admire
To admonish
To adore
To amuse
To annoy
To apologize
To applaud
To attack
To bask
To beg
To belittle
To bestow
To boast
To brag
To brood
To brush off
To buddy up
To caress
To celebrate
To challenge
To charm
To check out
To coax
To comfort
To command
To confess
To confide
To confront
To congratulate
To cuddle
To defend
To deify
To demand
To destroy
To dis
To discard
To discover
To dismiss
To distract
To embrace
To entertain
To entice
To erupt
To escape
To examine
To explode
To exult
To flatter
To flaunt
To flee
To flirt
To gloat
To grieve
To hide
To idolize
To ignore
To impress
To incite
To inspect
To instruct
To invade
To invite
To lure
To mock
To mother
To mourn
To ogle
To patronize
To perform
To pester
To pleas
To ponder
To pounce
To preen
To prepare
To primp
To probe
To protect
To put down
To question
To reject
To rescue
To retreat
To ridicule
To savor
To scold
To scrutinize
To search
To seduce
To seethe
To shock
To show off
To sneak
To soothe
To stalk
To startle
To strut
To surrender
To tantalize
To taunt
To teach
To tease
To tempt
To test
To threaten
To trump
To ward off
To wan
To welcome
To withdraw
To worship
To yearn
For more on actor’s verbs and subtext, check out Changing Direction by Lenore DeKoven.
