本篇文章共分 5 段，將演員在排演與演出時的落差出現的原因與影響，以及演員所企望達到的存在感與觀眾的反饋影響，一一說明演員與觀眾的互動與一場成功的演出。

本篇考題英文原文與對應之中文翻譯整理如下。練習作答解題時若有對語意不清楚之處，請仔細查閱對照，以提升閱讀理解能力。

The Actor and the Audience 演員和觀眾

1. 排演與演出的落差

   Actors, even when they are well rehearsed, can never fully anticipate how well they will perform before an actual audience. The actor who has been brilliant in rehearsal can crumble before an audience and completely lose the “edge” of his or her performance in the face of stage fright and apprehension. The presence of an audience can affect performance in other ways as well. Or—and this is more likely—an actor who seemed fairly unexciting at rehearsal can suddenly take fire and dazzle the audience with unexpected energy, subtlety, and depth. One celebrated example of this phenomenon was achieved by Lee J Cobb in the original production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, in which Cobb had the title role. The presence of an audience can affect performance in other ways as well. Roles rehearsed in all solemnity can suddenly turn comical in performance; conversely, roles developed for comic potential in rehearsal may be received soberly by an audience and lose their comedic aspect entirely.

   演員，即使他們排練精良，也無法完全預料他們在真正的觀眾面前會有怎樣的表現。在排練中表現出色的演員在面對觀眾時也會崩潰，面對舞台上的恐懼和憂慮，完全失去了他或她表演的「犀利」。觀眾的存在也會以其他方式影響表演。或者—更有可能的是—一位在排練時看起來相當平淡無奇的演員可能突然爆發，以意想不到的能量、微妙和深度讓觀眾目瞪口呆。這種現象一個著名的例子是阿瑟．米勒的《推銷員之死》的原創製作中擔任主角的李．J．科布所表現的那般。觀眾的存在也能以其他方式影響表演。莊重排練的角色在表演中可能突然變得滑稽；相反，在排練中為喜劇潛力而開發的角色可能被觀眾嚴肅看待，而完全失去其喜劇性。

2. 演出的穩定性

   Sudden and dramatic change, however, is not the norm as the performance phase replaces rehearsal: most actors cross over from final dress rehearsal to opening night with only the slightest shift; indeed, this is generally thought to be the goal of a disciplined and professional rehearsal schedule. Holding back until opening night, the once-popular acting practice of restraining emotional display until opening night, is universally disavowed today, and opening night recklessness is viewed as a sure sign of the amateur, who relies primarily on guts and adrenaline to get through the performance. Deliberate revision of a role in performance, in response to the first waves of laughter or applause, is similarly frowned upon in all but the most inartistic of theaters today.

   然而，當表演階段取代排練時，突然的戲劇性變化並不是常態：大多數演員從最後的綵排到開演之夜，只有最輕微的變化；事實上，這通常被認為是有紀律的專業排練計劃的目標。曾經流行的在開演前克制情感表現的表演做法，如今已被普遍摒棄，首演夜的草率魯莽行為被視為業餘演員的必然標誌，這些人主要依靠膽量和腎上腺素來完成演出。為了應對第一波笑聲或掌聲而刻意修改表演中的角色，在今天除了最不具備藝術性的劇院之外，同樣也會遭到不悅對待。

3. 演出時的調整

   Nevertheless, a fundamental shift does occur in the actor's awareness between rehearsal and performance, and this cannot and should not be denied: indeed, it is essential to the creation of theater art. This shift is set up by an elementary feedback: the actor is inevitably aware, with at least a portion of his or her mind, of the audience's reaction to his or her own performance and that of the other players; there is always, in any acting performance, a subtle adjustment to the audience that sees it. The outward manifestations of this adjustment are usually all but imperceptible: the split-second hold for a laugh to die down, the slight special projection of a certain line to make sure that it reaches the back row, the quick turn of a head to make a characterization or plot transition extra clear.

   然而，在排練和表演之間，演員的意識確實發生了根本性的轉變，這一點不容也不應該被否認：事實上，它對戲劇藝術的創作至關重要。這種轉變是由一個基本的反饋建立起來的：演員不可避免地意識到，至少在他或她的部分腦海中，觀眾對他或她自己和其他演員的表演的反應；對於觀賞任何表演的觀眾，總是有一個微妙的調整。這種調整的外在表現通常都是難以察覺的：笑聲平息的一瞬間，某句台詞的輕微特殊投射，以確保它到達後排觀眾，快速轉頭以使角色或情節的轉換更加清晰。

4. 演員的存在感

   In addition, the best actors consistently radiate a quality known to the theater world as presence. It is a quality difficult to describe, but it has the effect of making both the character whom the actor portrays and the self of the actor who represents that character especially vibrant and in the present for the audience: it is the quality of an actor who takes the stage and acknowledges, in some inexplicable yet indelible manner, that he or she is there to be seen. Performance is not a one-way statement given from the stage to the house; it is a two-way participatory communication between the actors and the audience members in which the former employ text and movement and the latter employ applause, laughter, silence, and attention.

   此外，最好的演員始終散發著一種被戲劇界稱為存在感的特質。這是一種難以描述的特質，但它的作用是使演員所扮演的角色和代表該角色的演員的自我在觀眾面前特別有活力和存在感：這種特質讓一名登台演員知道，他在舞台上會以某種無以名狀但不可磨滅的方式被觀眾看到。表演不是一項從舞台到觀眾席的單向聲明；它是演員和觀眾之間的雙向參與性交流，前者使用文字和動作，後者使用掌聲、笑聲、靜默和注意力。

5. 觀眾的反應

   Even when the audience is silent and invisible—and, owing to the brightness of the stage lights, the audience is frequently invisible to the actor—the performer feels its presence. There is nothing extrasensory about this: the absence of sound is itself a signal, for when several hundred people sit without shuffling, coughing, or muttering, their silence betokens a level of attention for which the actor customarily strives. Laughter, gasps, sighs, and applause similarly feed back into the actor's consciousness—and unconsciousness—and spur (or sometimes, alas, distract) the actor's efforts. The veteran actor can determine quickly how to ride the crest of audience laughter and how to hold the line just long enough that it will pierce the lingering chuckles but not be overridden by them, he or she also knows how to vary the pace and/or redouble his or her energy when sensing restlessness or boredom on the other side of the curtain line. Performance technique, or the art of reading an audience, is more instinctual than learned. The timing it requires is of such complexity that no actor could master it rationally; he or she can develop it only out of experience.

   即使觀眾是沉默的，看不見的—由於舞台燈光的亮度，演員經常看不見觀眾—表演者也能感覺到他們的存在。這並不是什麼超感官的東西：沒有聲音本身就是一種信號，因為當幾百個人坐在一起，沒有坐立不安、咳嗽或嘀咕時，他們的靜默就意味著演員通常會努力達到的專注程度。笑聲、喘息聲、歎息聲和掌聲也同樣反饋到演員的意識和無意識中，並刺激（或有時分散）了演員的努力。老練的演員能夠迅速確定如何駕馭觀眾的笑聲，以及如何將台詞保持得足夠長，以刺破揮之不去的笑聲，但又不被笑聲所取代，他或她還知道，當感覺到布幕線另一邊的不安或無聊時，如何改變節奏和／或加倍努力。表演技巧，或者說讀懂觀眾的藝術，與其說是學來的，不如說是本能的。它所要求的時機是如此的複雜，以至於沒有演員能理性地掌握它；他或她只能從經驗中發展它。