how to direct overlapping dialogue?

Take a look at the dialogue in a script like David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross (rude language warning).

I suspect whoever prepared that version has used ellipses instead of em-dashes to signal interruption. Just as long as you make it clear who's doing the interrupting, cutting whoever off.

-Derek

Well now I know that.

Check out the Dialogue Element page from the Playwriting 101 website.

This and other sites are listed in the stickied playwriting prompts / tips thread.

-Derek

In directing, the actors don't time them as much as listen for a trigger that makes them interrupt. What you don't want is for there to be a pause when actor1 reaches the interrupt point and actor2 hasn't said their part yet. Some (many?) playwrights actually finish the sentence but insert a mark at the point of interruption. This helps the actor know what they are trying to say when they get interrupted.

In early rehearsals, I have actor2 listen to find what actor1 says that makes it imperative to start talking before the end of actor1's sentence. The interruption has to be organic to actor2 to be real. That means that something actor1 says actually causes the interruption. A good playwright has taken care of that in the dialog.

Later in rehearsals, I have actor1 make up an ending to the sentence and try to finish the sentence but get interrupted. That allows actor2 to vary a second or two in either direction. The other issue is that Actor1 needs to know what the end of the sentence is in order to say the first, interrupted part.

Suppose the script says: I just want to tell you --

It could mean: I just want to tell you that I love you. Or it could mean: I just want to tell you that I hate you.

The actual delivery of the uninterrupted part of those two lines by actor1 would be quite different.

If actor1 starts to finish the line too early in rehearsals, actor2 might get confused and never really learn when to interrupt in the right place.

Hope this is what you are looking for.

Doug

The_Ink_Goddess said:

thanks for the reply, but I have a script with interruptions etc. My question was more about how you present them onstage and get the actors to time them with one another.

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I'm an actor, and I have done some directing. In my experience, telling actors when to start talking, which words to emphasize, how to time things, etc., are not very fruitful. That is how I would direct myself when I'm trying to convey something, but when I direct someone else, I have to explain why.

Seasoned actors are aware that they are not just saying lines when they hear their cue. They are listening to the other actor. As an actor, it's helpful to understand WHY the lines are overlapping, and why the characters are interrupting each other.

Just some random examples. You could explain it as, "You're just not listening. You want you're turn to talk. You don't even notice that he's still talking." Or, "When he starts talking here, you know what he's going to say, and you don't want to hear it, so you don't let him finish." I don't know what the situation is in the material you are directing, but you get the idea. It usually works better than, "come in right as he's saying this word."

Actors can usually get the rhythm of the scene with notes like these.