Sub text: The Key to Expression

Sub-text (or subtext) is that part of the text that is implied but never stated. Actors use subtext to enable them to express what the character means, even if the words usually mean something entirely different. Subtext is extrapolated with the help of the context.

Let’s take an example. In the following piece of dialogue, the character, Marge, says just one line, "He was here." See how the way of saying that line changes with different contexts supplying different subtext (the subtext is in brackets for each example). The best way to understand the subtext is to read the text out loud and complete the subtext in your mind:

Context 1: Marge reaches a lover’s assignation to discover that her lover had been there, but has left.

Marge: He was here (but he’s gone! Oh, WHY did mum have to stop me at the door?)

Context 2: Marge is being pursued by a maniac. She runs through a forest and reaches a clearing, where she sees his footprints.

Marge: He was here (Oh my God! Is he close by?)

Context 3: Marge is a police officer chasing a suspect

Marge: He was here (It won’t be long before we catch the son-of-a-gun)

Once you learn to use subtext, you will be amazed – as will your listeners – at how expressive your voice becomes.

Subtext, when it is used with a character’s speech, is an extension of that character’s speech. It is what you think the character is saying in his/her mind BEFORE, DURING or AFTER the actual line that the character says.

To understand subtext better, let’s take the following line:

"I hate you because you are selfish"

Say the line out loud.

If necessary, record the way you say it.

Now say it again, but this time say, "because you are selfish" in your mind. In other words say, "I hate you" aloud and then "because you are selfish" in your mind.

You will find that there is no difference in the way you say the first part, whether you say the second part out aloud or in your mind. To a listener, however, the unsaid "because you are selfish" becomes a very powerful statement and makes your line expressive. The unsaid part is conveyed viscerally.

Now try saying "I hate you, you're always doing such lovely things for me"

(This is in the context of a woman who loves a man. The "I hate you" is a loving statement, not a hateful one. In other words, she's feeling sorry that she doesn't seem to do as much for him as he'd doing for her).

Say it again, stopping at "you" and completing the "you're always always doing such lovely things for me" in your mind.

Note how differently you say "I hate you" depending on the sub-text, the part you say in your mind.

When you add subtext, therefore, you try to write down that visceral, unsaid part of the character’s line. You do this by understanding the context and, of course, the text of the character’s speech.

Deepak