An Actor Standing and Walking: Blog 57

Namaste!  

I was on a bit of a roll yesterday with the voice focus, and I do just love Kristin's work. She is clear that the voice is part of the body. You would think that's obvious but I am constantly amazed at how many actors think of the voice as some how detached and separate from the body, rather than living deep inside it. Of course there is much to be learned technically, and Kristin embraces that fully, knowledge being freedom and all that! But what chimes for me in my own practice is the 'soul' and emotional aspects of deep body/voice work. 

Kristin talks about 30-60 minute warm ups for actors and I am with her on that.  I know from experience that the energy of a rehearsal room must be just right to give space for the imagination to engage fully. In order to do this the actor needs to be 'ready' and receptive to this imaginal space. She needs to 'arrive' fully in mind body and soul. So that means bringing the whole self into the space and preparing it. Tuning the instrument. In my rehearsal room this is a grand mix of mindful physical exercise, beginning with centering. Centering is the energy shift maker for the individual and it also elegantly plugs everyone into the collective energy in the room. I do this standing. Its about where you place your attention and intention. So beginning with the feet and putting your minds' eye into them you travel up through the body using the breath as support. When you are centred you will know, as your mind will feel cleared of the chitter chatter and you will be present in the now.

From this place the work can begin. Standing is deeply important for the actor, (and for most jobs or WALKS of life!). I always find it interesting to go through a 30-minute cycle of simply standing with actors. It is of course simultaneously  simple and far from simple. In standing for that length of time, you begin to experience your body in minute detail. We rely on our unconscious directive to keep our bodies alive. We do not think about how our heart is beating and our lungs are breathing, we just accept it and take it for granted. Of course our conscious mind could never deal with all the elements of keeping a body going if we had to decide them all. So in centering we tune our instruments, we experience 'being' in our bodies. And I have to say it can be blissful in its stillness. Like meditation, we are in the present moment, bringing together softly our whole self.

Standing still can also bring up all sorts of emotions and its not uncommon for a standing exercise to provoke grief and tears. The release of these serves the actor well in taking him closer to the source of his own creativity. This unblocking is essential for accessing truth. Simply standing enables the creative energy and flow to move through and thereby 'land' in the room in the form of character, image and shape. I recommend that all actors practise standing every day. 

I was having a good email exchange with Tim Major about this stuff the other day. We were debating the place of this type of work in the highly pressurised results orientated world we live in where the deadline to produce is absolute. I get deadlines, I live with them daily as we all do. But I also know that when you spend time on centering and standing you can get to your results much quicker and more easily.

After standing comes walking. You have all heard the phrase that actors routinely repeat "Say your lines and don't bump into the furniture". This says a great deal about the job and of course its a tongue in cheek reference but beautifully gives a nod to Brook's notion of deadly theatre. You can of course get away with a lot  - but why would you want to?

Walking can cause actors a problem, especially when they have not brought their body and imagination into the space fully. It can be as if they are stuck to the studio floor, stiff, awkward and inert. I remember working with a director who was 'telling' me to move down stage on a line. I was instinctively as resistant as a donkey. I had not a clue what my purpose was and as such I was paralysed in the space. Its a horrible feeling, ask any actor! Its actually why I cannot abide the word 'blocking' when it comes to staging. Its an individual thing but for me this word 'block' used by most directors when setting a performance is the very opposite of what I want to do which is to 'free'. (This does not mean I don't set the final shape finely but that's the subject for another blog!)

Stanislavski had this problem with the young Meyerhold, who was an actor before he became a director. This may be apocryphal but the story goes that Stan was directing Meyerhold in The Inspector Calls by Gogol and his character had to walk right across the stage to sit at a piano. Apparently Meyerhold looked ridiculous and contorted as he attempted to cover the expanse of empty stage. He had no intention purpose or way of reaching the other side! So an exasperated Stan grabbed a cork screw (this is the bit that suggests it might be apocryphal to me? A cork screw in a rehearsal room? Never!) and put it in Meyerhold's hand and told him to imagine he was unscrewing a wine botte as he moved towards the piano. It worked miracles and suddenly this awkward gorky young actor moved with purpose and ease. It did eventually lead to the split between Stanislavski and Meyerhold though as the latter became more interested in extended movement and 'bio-mechanics' and less in the naturalistic. 

'You're not walking with purpose!! Why are you walking?' actors will often hear me shout at them.

None of our movements are void of purpose - even the most mundane of tasks. When you get a cup of water, your movement is based on the foundation of fighting off dehydration. When you're walking to a lesson it's to not be late or to get the best seat in the room.

Walking with purpose is one of the most important skills an actor must develop.

And the great thing about walking is that you can practise this when you are out and about in the street - just give yourself a series of different purposes and see how this translates in your body and walk, and emotions too. Just watch out for police officers - it can get you arrested. I will perhaps invite Jordan to guest blog on that subject!  

Natalie and Jordan in 2008 production of To Die For by Clifford Oliver

Have a good walk today!