Hi ,
Continuing our exploration of what seeking ‘perfection’ does to actors and how we can avoid this pitfall, we have had a lot of conversation in our online classes recently regarding making swift decisions.
Not swiftly reckless or swiftly inappropriate but swiftly specific.
Hi,
Apparently 93% of communication is behavioural and 7% is verbal.
This is hugely freeing for us actors. The text is only a small part of the audience experience, which means that we have way more responsibility as well as opportunity than we sometimes think.
Hi,
In a webinar recently, one of the participants was being led through an exercise on objectives. Having applied an objective to a piece of text successfully and re energised her piece, she stopped and said ‘wow, it makes everything immediate!’.
Hi,
Do you ever find yourself looking at other actors and what they are doing with a sense of, well, envy?
I know I certainly have. There is little else that will make you unhappier than wishing you were another person with their skillset, fanbase, CV or ‘profile’.
The remarkable thing is that every single person is the same in this respect. It’s fascinating to find that even the strongest, most popular among us tend to have one eye on another person.
One of my favourite directors is Laurence Boswell. We worked together on the RSC’s Spanish Golden Age season back in 2003 and he often teaches for my school, ICAT.
Laurence is an ‘actors director’. He just loves what we do and what we bring. When teaching a set of our students recently, he said these words…
‘The character is a metaphor for the actor’
Are you getting typecast? Do you want to beat it? Keep reading.
‘Which is your most important acting job?’
A friend of mine was working with Holly Hunter; the fabulous American actor and overheard her ask this question of a young member of the cast.
‘They are not giving me anything!’
How often have we heard this statement? The actor opposite you appears to be doing nothing, leaving you grasping at proverbial straws for some sort of real relationship. You are acting your littles socks off and your scene partner is stuck in monotone, not moving and seemingly non responsive to anything that you throw in their direction.
Hi,
One thing this lockdown has done is given many people a chance to take stock, for better or for worse. In conversation with my friends and family I have repeatedly heard people saying that they have never (in a long time) had a chance to consider all they are doing, not doing and want to do.
We often live without overarching purpose, though we are moved every moment by immediate needs, wants and desires.
Hi!
It’s been a while.
Here’s something to ponder.
All ‘successful’ performances rest on one thing – truthful connection. It is hard to deny that whatever we are watching (no matter how aesthetically or presentationally pleasing) means very little if we remain untouched by what the players are doing to each other. A little like eating fast food, it is immediately satisfying but in the long term, we remain undernourished. Empty.
