The majority of acting courses that I have done all had one particularity in common, helping actors to explore their individuality and to affirm their self-confidence. As actors, we all have this syndrome of believing we are special and that something special awaits us. However, this isn’t untrue: we are all special and different in our way. We may sometimes share similar physical characteristics, voice, hair, height or skin tone to another, but we are unique, we have an individuality in all of us, something very ‘ours’ and special and our journey is to discover this intimate secret and revealing it confidently.
I believe that many of our weaknesses may become our virtues. Many don’t get the objectives of others in theatrical training, breathing exercises, of balance, observation, tension and relaxation, but all these exercises in my experience and interpretation of it, have helped me to get better control over my own instrumentation as a working actress, together with my voice and body.
In an initial phase, these exercises had a reverse effect, in other words, instead of helping me, they blocked me into a heightened self-awareness of my body language and voice. But now after a few years of those theatrical exercises, things have gradually taken a unconscious role, to a point when I look back now, I don’t recognize myself and feel that indeed, today I can handle things that before I would not have dared to risk, and perhaps had I done I would have done it in a confused and insecure way.
Today I feel more prepared, but I will never be totally prepared. In her own words, whenever Meryl Streep herself receives a screenplay, she is not sure she will be able to grasp the character she must play, affirming “I can’t do this…”. So we can’t wait for the perfect conditions to throw ourselves into this industry of wolves, we must take risks, all-the-while preparing ourselves every day.
I am simply adoring my courses with Tom Hescott, for the short time that we have to do the tasks, in writing the monologues, solving all inevitable situations, creating scenes, then directing and performing them. When he says “You have eight minutes to direct and perform this piece” or “you have five minutes to write the monologue of this characters” my inner voice complicates it always saying “Its not possible”. But afterwards, not only is it possible, but it happens just as it should. Not always perfect mind you, but there’s an impulse, a draft, something that can and will be worked on in time, while our responses grow to be quicker, more organized , more confident and in less time than the last. And even when we think “this is ridiculous, my performance was terrible”, we learn also at the end to be confidently ridiculous in front of an audience. We accept that however ridiculous our script or performance was, we lose also our sense of embarrassment, or of feeling that we were lesser actors for it. We accept that we take risks until the end, independently of other people's opinions.
But many people will have differing opinions about acting exercises, much like our beloved Joey!! :)
No comments
Post a Comment