Little Miss Perfect_. **GENTILE:** No matter how many times you run the play, no matter how many times you go to the same directors, you do not understand the part. **VIVIAN:** Then you'd be happy if I quit? **GENTILE:** You have to follow your instincts. **VIVIAN:** They're wrong. That's why they say "I know it when I see it." They want me to know it when I don't see it. Then they've got me. They control me. They control me. That's the terrible part. They don't let you go. Do you know what it's like to try and break free? But do you know what the worst is? It's seeing everyone else do what they want. . . . When you see me do it, you say "Why can't I do that?" I have to look up to those people. They're in control of me. They control me. Oh God, they're getting at me, I'll get at them. No more, never again. . . . And yet I have to see them tomorrow. Have you ever seen anyone so wonderful? _She touches her heart_. The way he smiles at me. The way he smiles at the stage. **GENTILE:** He's an actor? **VIVIAN:** He is. But he's more than an actor. He's so kind. He's my father. You've got to help me stop. Please, help me stop. Gentile is not one of the people she's seeing. She isn't telling him anything that will help him stop her. It's not his fault that she doesn't think she can do her part. She knows she isn't ready and she's afraid he'll give her the push to get her going. It doesn't take much to see that the play's plot is coming true in her imagination. She's got the part; she's with the right man; the relationship is falling apart; and they both know it. And the tragedy is that her fear and her uncertainty are so clear and present that her acting becomes convincing. Vivian doesn't want to be controlled by her director. And that's what she is afraid of: the control of a director who wants her to take her acting up a notch. But she doesn't say this. If she didn't say this, Gentile couldn't see it, and he wouldn't have a way to respond. He's got to take what she says at face value. He's not about to confront her. What he sees is not what she's saying. The way to see what she's saying is to stop taking her at face value, to stop assuming that she's saying what she's saying. To see what she's saying is to see that she's scared, and she doesn't know how to deal with it. That's a lot of responsibility for Gentile, but he doesn't waver. He sees her fear. In fact, he sees that she's frightened of the part she's playing. The key to Gentile's work with Vivian is that he doesn't stop at the fear she shows at certain moments, but rather, he sees the fear every time she starts working. What would it mean if he stopped asking for more, but rather tried to help her see a deeper truth in her fear? Let's listen to Vivian, and then let's listen to Gentile. Then let's see if we can follow her fear to its hidden source. Let's listen to what she says, then listen to what he says, and then see where it takes us. **GENTILE:** When you start with me, will you do that? **VIVIAN:** I will try. I promise. **GENTILE:** Try? **VIVIAN:** I promise to try. But I will not quit. I will not leave this theatre. **GENTILE:** Try. **VIVIAN:** I promise I will try. And if I can't do what you ask, I'll try with what I do have. But I will try my very best. **GENTILE:** You say that, but I know better. **VIVIAN:** I promise to try, I promise, if you'll let me. **GENTILE:** Try. **VIVIAN:** If you'll let me. If you don't let me, then don't ask me again. But I promise to try with what I've got. _She has another try_. **GENTILE:** Do it again and keep that promise. No matter what you say, it's always my fault if you're not there. **VIVIAN:** I know, I know, I promise to try. **GENTILE:** You don't have to say it. I can tell you mean it. **VIVIAN:** I promise to try. **GENTILE:** Keep saying it. The next time you say it, I'll hear it. But it's got to mean something. That's the thing. You have to mean it. And what you've got to mean is that you're going to do what I ask, no matter how much it hurts. And if it doesn't hurt, that means you're not doing the part. Do you know what I mean? The only way I can think of to do what I want is to hurt you, to put my fingers into your heart, and that's the only way to see if you're really there. Do you see that? **VIVIAN:** I see it now. **GENTILE:** If you promise me you'll try, then I know you're ready. If you say you'll try and stop and I try to stop you, then you're telling me to stop what I can't do. When you say you'll try, then you know what I want. And I know what I want, so I'll leave you alone to do it. **VIVIAN:** I promise. The worst part of this is that Vivian really is trying hard in this scene. She hears herself saying "I promise" over and over again. But she doesn't know where the words are coming from. She keeps saying them over and over because they feel right, but she has no idea where they came from. She doesn't realize what's really going on. She thinks she's trying to do the play, but she doesn't realize that she has no idea what the play is about. She has no sense of who she's supposed to be in this scene. So Gentile has to explain it to her, but he can't start with what Vivian knows. He's going to have to start with what she doesn't know. Then he's going to have to take what she doesn't know and have her find her own way of thinking it through. It's a terrible problem that Gentile has. Vivian is afraid of the part she's playing in this play, and she doesn't know how to deal with the fear. She doesn't see the fear. And so what Gentile does is to ask her for something more. He tells her to do her part, and then he asks her to promise that she'll do it. It's because she knows she won't do it that she promises. She's trying. She wants to do it, but her fear keeps her from doing it. Here's a way of looking at this: Gentile has found Vivian at a fear that is stopping her from living her life. She's afraid of the part she's playing. She has no idea what it's about, so she's afraid to go there. What Gentile does with his work with her is to give her a simple message: "I want you to tell me what it's about." This is what he tells her: **GENTILE:** Now I can get out of this part of the play, but I can't get out of the life I am living. **VIVIAN:** Why should I tell you? **GENTILE:** That's the part of the play I want to hear. What is it? **VIVIAN:** That's why I mustn't tell you. **GENTILE:** I want to know what it's about. What's it about? **VIVIAN:** It's a man, he falls in love, and he goes with this girl, and this woman loves him. **GENTILE:** Not good enough. There's something else. I can hear it in your voice. If I know what it is, then I can deal with it. **VIVIAN:** There's nothing more. The play is simple. You want something more. The play is all I can offer. You're the one who wants to talk about it. **GENTILE:** That's where you're wrong. I am not asking for more. **VIVIAN:** I am giving you more. **GENTILE:** What I'm asking for is the same thing you want to offer, and I will take what you offer if you will tell me how you got to it. You've told me what it's about, but you haven't told me how it's about it. **VIVIAN:** I told you