Large for the stage, small for the screen Karen Harriott explains the difference between acting for stage and film

ACTRESS KAREN Harriott sums up the difference between performing for the stage and the screen in terms of size.

“Film is subtle, so the movement for film is much, much smaller (than for theatre). The screen is intimate, it is in your face, you can’t make your movements big. If you make your movements big, it looks like you are overacting.” She gives the example of being frightened, as the script requires. For the stage she would act frightened, but, for the screen, she says “you don’t have to act frightened, just think about it.” And the subtle signs would be enough for the camera.

After starting out in theatre, Harriott has moved easily between the stage and the screen. In June, she did Angela Jarrett’s Something Fishy at the Little Little Theatre. David Heron’s Redemption is on her credits, as are multiple productions with Oliver Samuels. And she trod the boards before, 21 years on the Royal Palm television franchise, with other television shows Sarge in Charge, Oliver In Charge and Win Some, Lose Some included in her silver-screen stints. All these are in addition to the movie In Like Flynn.

Harriott says making the adjustment from the stage to film is much easier if someone is there to give guidance — and that person may not be the director, who is looking out for the overall picture.

FORTUNATE

She counts herself fortunate to have interacted with Trevor Johnson, who “cared so much about how I came across on camera. He used to whisper to me ‘Take it down a bit, it is too big’. If my collar was out of place