# How to Raise the Stakes in Your Acting (Without Pushing) > Directors say "raise the stakes" and rarely explain it. What the note actually asks for, five questions to ask of any script, three ways to raise the stakes without getting louder, and how stakes work in comedy. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/raising-the-stakes-in-acting - Published: 2026-10-17 - Last updated: 2026-10-17 You finish the scene, the director nods, thinks for a second, and says: "Good. Now raise the stakes." Then they move on to someone else. You go back to your mark wondering what, exactly, you're supposed to do differently. Be louder? Cry? Play it faster? It's a note you'll hear again and again, and it rarely comes with an explanation. The tempting response is to push: more volume, more tension in the neck, more "emotion." When that doesn't work, the director gives the note again. The short version: stakes are what your character stands to win or lose in this scene, and how much it matters to them right now. You raise them by making the loss worse and more personal, bringing the deadline closer, and choosing stronger actions, then letting that change what you do to the other person. Not by acting bigger. ## What "raise the stakes" actually means In a scene, the stakes are what your character is risking by wanting what they want. One way to read the note "the stakes are low": the character looks as if they could walk away from the scene and be fine. Backstage's guide to [what the note really means](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/raise-stakes-really-means-actors-1392/) puts it in terms of urgency: the character's need has to feel urgent and happening right now. It also points to the other half of the equation, the obstacle. A strong want with nothing in its way isn't interesting. A strong want with something real blocking it is a scene. So the note is not about intensity of feeling. It's about the size of the consequences, and how clearly you're playing them. Casting director Michael Shurtleff framed it the same way. One of the twelve guideposts in his book *Audition*, as [Playbill's profile of him](https://playbill.com/person/michael-shurtleff-vault-0000003473) notes, is conflict: what are you fighting for? ## Five questions to ask of the script You can't raise stakes you haven't found. Before you try anything on your feet, sit down with the script and answer these, in writing, for your character in this scene: 1. **What do I want from the other person?** Not a feeling, a result: a yes, a confession, money, forgiveness. Our guide to [finding your objective](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-find-your-objective-in-a-scene) covers how to phrase it so you can play it. 2. **What happens if I get it?** Picture the best outcome as concretely as you can. 3. **What happens if I don't?** Picture the worst. 4. **Why does it have to happen now?** What makes this the moment, and not next week? 5. **What's in my way?** The other person, a secret, a rule, your own fear. StageMilk's guide to [raising the stakes](https://www.stagemilk.com/how-to-raise-the-stakes-in-your-acting/) asks the same pair: what the character could win, and what they could lose. If the script is silent, it says to invent a best and worst outcome that fits the story. Scripts often tell you more than you think. Read what other characters say about your situation, what has happened in earlier scenes, and what happens after this one. The answers go into your script, in pencil, at the top of the scene. You'll come back to them every time the scene feels flat. ## A worked example: what Krogstad stands to lose Here's how it plays out in a real scene. In Act 1 of Ibsen's *A Doll's House*, Krogstad, who holds a junior post at the bank, has learned that Nora's husband, the new manager, is about to dismiss him. He comes to Nora, who secretly owes him money. This is from R. Farquharson Sharp's public-domain translation: > **KROGSTAD:** The matter never came into court; but every way seemed to be closed to me after that. So I took to the business that you know of. I had to do something; and, honestly, I don’t think I’ve been one of the worst. But now I must cut myself free from all that. My sons are growing up; for their sake I must try and win back as much respect as I can in the town. This post in the Bank was like the first step up for me—and now your husband is going to kick me downstairs again into the mud. > > **NORA:** But you must believe me, Mr. Krogstad; it is not in my power to help you at all. > > **KROGSTAD:** Then it is because you haven’t the will; but I have means to compel you. > > **NORA:** You don’t mean that you will tell my husband that I owe you money? An actor who plays Krogstad's want as "keep my job" will give you a man complaining about work. Run the five questions and it changes. What does he lose if he fails? Not just a salary (it's not only for the money, he tells her just before this): his one way back to respectability, which he wants for his sons' sake. Why now? Because the dismissal is coming, and once it happens it's too late. What's in his way? Nora says she has no power, and he doesn't believe her. Now the threat in his reply isn't villainy for its own sake. It's a man with everything on the table, playing the only card he has. The words haven't changed. The stakes have, and the line lands differently because of it. You can read the whole scene in our [play library](https://www.offbook.com/plays/a-dolls-house). ## Three ways to raise the stakes without pushing Once you know what's at risk, here are three levers. Try one at a time, so you know which one changed the scene. ### 1. Make the loss worse and more specific "I'll be sad if she leaves" is a weak stake. "If she leaves tonight, I'll be alone in this house with my father, and I'll never get out" is a strong one. The more specific and concrete the worst outcome, the more it pulls on you. Backstage's article suggests **personalization**: finding a real need of your own underneath the character's circumstances, so that how badly you want it is true for you, not just described. ### 2. Bring the deadline closer Time is another lever. StageMilk suggests using the given circumstances, such as time pressure, to add urgency to a scene. If the train leaves in five minutes, every pause costs something. Look for the clock in the script: an arrival, a decision, a door about to open. Our guide to [given circumstances](https://www.offbook.com/blog/given-circumstances-in-acting) shows where those facts hide, and the one on [the moment before](https://www.offbook.com/blog/the-moment-before-in-acting) covers how to walk in already carrying them. ### 3. Play stronger actions Stakes show up in what you do, not just in how you feel. If your character's action is "to ask," the scene stays polite. StageMilk contrasts that with actions like pleading, bargaining, or threatening. Each one costs more and risks more. When the stakes rise, you try harder tactics, and the other actor has something real to respond to. Our list of [acting action verbs](https://www.offbook.com/blog/acting-action-verbs) is a good place to find the stronger version of what you're already doing. ## Why higher stakes don't mean louder This is the trap. StageMilk is direct about it: higher stakes don't mean bigger or louder, and they don't mean yelling or being aggressive. Think about people in real trouble. Someone trying to talk a friend out of a terrible decision often goes very quiet and very precise. Someone trying not to cry at a funeral holds very still. When you push, the audience watches you work. When the stakes are real, they watch the character fight. The tell is your body: if your shoulders are up and your voice is straining, you're playing the effort, not the situation. Go back to the five questions, pick one answer to make sharper, and play the scene again at normal volume. This is also where it helps to rehearse out loud, many times, trying a different worst outcome on each pass. With Offbook, you can ask Genie, its script assistant, about your character's motivation or the context of a scene, or highlight a single line and ask what's under it. Then run the scene with realistic voices reading the other parts, and hear how the same words change when the loss changes. Video: [Ask Genie about your scene](https://www.offbook.com/learn/genie) (0:43) ## Stakes in comedy: play them for real It's tempting to think comedy needs low stakes, since nothing is truly serious. It's the opposite. Backstage's piece on [the straight face of farce](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/craft-straight-face-farce-similar-tragedy-heightened-comedy-38142/) makes the point in its title: like tragedy, heightened comedy requires heightened stakes. The advice there is to play the stakes for all they're worth rather than playing for the laugh. A man hiding a lover in the wardrobe while his wife chats in the bedroom is funny precisely because, to him, discovery is the end of the world. If he seems relaxed, there's nothing to laugh at. The stakes in comedy can be tiny on paper (a lost hat, a cold cup of tea), as long as the character treats them as life or death. So can stakes be too high in comedy? Not the stakes themselves. What goes wrong is commenting on them, winking at the audience to show you know it's silly. Play it straight and let the situation be funny. Once the stakes are real, the laugh still needs timing; our guide to [comedic timing](https://www.offbook.com/blog/comedic-timing-for-actors) covers setting up a joke and holding for it. ## When the note comes in the room In an audition or rehearsal, you won't have time to rethink the whole role. Pick one lever and commit to it: - Decide on a sharper worst outcome and keep it in your head through the whole scene. - Add a clock: the other person is about to leave, and this is your last chance. - Change your action to a stronger verb, and really try to get the result from your partner. Don't explain your new choice or ask what they meant. Just play it, and let the director adjust from there. Our guide on [how to take direction](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-take-direction) covers how to turn any note into something you can do on the next take. ## Questions actors ask ### What does "raise the stakes" mean in acting? It means making what your character could win or lose in the scene bigger, more personal, and more urgent, so they can't afford to fail. It's a note about consequences, not about volume or emotion. ### How do I raise the stakes in a scene? Answer five questions for your character: what you want, what happens if you get it, what happens if you don't, why it has to be now, and what's in the way. Then sharpen one answer, usually the worst outcome or the deadline, and let it change the actions you play. ### Can stakes be too high in comedy? Not the stakes themselves. Comedy, especially farce, depends on characters treating small problems as life or death. What hurts a comic scene is playing the stakes with a wink, or pushing for the laugh instead of the situation. ### What's the difference between stakes and an objective? The objective is what you want from the other person. The stakes are what you win if you get it and what it costs you if you don't. You need both: an objective without stakes looks casual, and stakes without an objective have nowhere to go.