Influence is the raw material of drama. Just as a painter has a special sensitivity and appetite for colour, a musician for sounds, a dancer for kinaesthesia, an architect for space, a poet for connotations, a sculptor for form, so has a dramatic actor a special sensitivity and appetite for influence. The actor feels influence as a palpable substance filling the space between people and is ready to change others and ready to be changed in return. The psychology, the vibes, the needs, the desires, the attitudes are all part of it. The actor loves to play with it, and eventually learns to dance to it.
There are hierarchies of influence, from personal to social to political to historical:
I will change you.
We will change us.
We will change them.
We and they will change the world.
