Prepare, prepare and then prepare some more. Prepare until you know your role backwards, sideways and standing on your head then keep preparing until you are sick of it. I’ll always remember preparing for a show at college and I told the tutor I was sick of looking at the script as it was coming up to show time. She said “Good, that means we’re getting somewhere. Go to scene 8…” If you are not thoroughly prepared, your brain monkeys are much more likely to come into play, telling you it could all go wrong and setting off the fight or flight response.
Avoid caffeine, nicotine and any other stimulating substances.
Relax. Arrive in plenty of time for your performance to give you time to do some stretching, deep breathing and visualization exercises. This will trigger the same part of the brain that releases the hormones to kick off the protective mechanisms, to now release hormones that trigger relaxation.
Don’t entertain any negative thoughts that come into your head… They are not serving you. Focus on the positives and what could go RIGHT.
Focus on your performance, not your audience.
Take enough time before the scene to focus and get into your flow. If you are fully immersed in your scene, you won’t be thinking about the audience.
Accept that nerves will never completely go away, nor should they. They energize your performance and make it come to life when you don’t let them control you.
If a mistake happens, it’s not the end of the world. Recover and move on… Do not allow yourself to dwell on it.
Hypnosis is a great way to combat stage fright!
Practice improvisation until you are confident that you’d be able to recover seamlessly from any mistakes without the audience even suspecting a thing!
