Why Is It Important To Rehearse?

Many people find rehearsing to be time-consuming, a challenge and way too fussy and technical. Nonetheless, there are many positives that come with rehearsing for the play you're doing:

You're allowed to make mistakes!

Rehearsal time is the time you're allowed to make mistakes - well, the only time you should do really! It's the time for you to experiment with different ideas you may have for the production or maybe forget one of your lines and need prompting. It's the time for you to refine your work and perfect it as much as possible. Actors shouldn't be afraid to think outside of the box during this given time! They should explore other lines they could say, how they can communicate emotions with their bodies and facial expressions as well as using dialect and have fun with working on the play.

Mark out your entrances and exits

This is the time to mark out where you are supposed to enter and exit from. This time should be used widely to identify other places that could be good for your character to enter from and the significance it has (e.g. If your objective is to scare the audience, would it be more effective to enter from one of the side entrances or the main entrance?)

Live in the world of your character

This is the opportunity where you can see your character really come to life! All of the research and preparation you've done on your character can now be brought to life. As well as bringing your character to life, you can now get a strong idea of the world your character lives in and how their given circumstances appear to be like. Actors should take advantage of this time to visually see how their character is like in the world they live in and bring them to life as much as possible in this world.

Have a feel of how it may be like when you finally perform 

When I've been rehearsing something for a while and then finally get to perform it in the stage we're actually performing on, I get a different feeling entirely. Dress rehearsals allow you to have a full experience of what to expect from yoursel and the rest of the cast on the night. This time should be used wisely and effectively to have a feel of how successful the piece will be when it is finally performed.