“I think breathing is hard to explain. There are definitely parts you need to be conscious of and parts you should cut off subconsciously, but it won’t be easy to make you understand with just words. For example, take this line, ‘I want to give up on independence’. Let’s have a look at that one, shall we? If you read the line while being conscious of the spaces, then you can separate your breathing like this: ‘I. Want. To. Give. Up. On. Independence’. Do you want to try it? Think of it as intentionally putting a gap between the words.”

Maru gave a signal by lightly clenching his hand into a fist. The acting club juniors seated around him all started saying the same line at the same time. Blunt voices, thin voices, tense voices, loose voices - many different voices repeated the same line about 3 times.

“If you think about how you talk in reality, cutting off every word like that will probably sound awkward. Even on stage, you will only speak like that when it’s intentional. In that case, let’s have everyone say it as they want to, shall we? Don’t think about the people next to you, and don’t think about the meaning of the line. Just read what’s in front of you. Of course, you can’t be completely devoid of emotion. Don’t apply the emotion into the line, and just think about...