The two primary techniques the actor-artist needs to develop and
learn to use practically as a character in scene work are: Relaxation and Sense
Memory. There are, of course many different exercises and techniques that form
part of The Method, but the above-mentioned are the foundation stones.
The Method has, at its centre, the requirement that we learn to
love and honor and accept ourselves, warts and all, and use our individual
qualities in our work in order to make the characters we portray real and
believable. We get to know and work with all aspects of ourselves – whether we
like them or not – since we have nothing other than our own selves that can be
used to create “someone else”.
1.
Method
students learn to become still and centered through relaxation work. They are
placed in a position where they can either use the opportunity to focus in on
themselves and become aware of their own bodies, senses, breathing, muscles,
thoughts and feelings or they can run away from the reality of their own
experiences and response to life. If they hope to do the work correctly and
develop as actor-artists, they choose the former. Those who are too terrified
of what they might find if they become quiet and connect and therefore get to
know themselves, usually leave the course quickly.
2.
This
usually also happens to those who don’t really want to be actor-artists but
hope to become famous and wealthy and therefore can’t see the point in doing
this work at all while sitting in class waiting to be “discovered”.
3.
Relaxation,
however, is a must
and brings the actor-artist in touch with him or herself in the most intimate
way.
4.
Sense
Memory teaches the student to develop concentration and the ability to focus
on, recreate and respond to sensory experience – sight, sound, touch, taste,
smell and “overall sensations” in the body. Response can be purely physical or
emotional or both. Though this is not the main purpose (which is to give an
honest, real performance as a character) the process does develop perception,
awareness and understanding of the surrounding world and creates a deep
connection with the personal aspects of self on all levels.
5.
Effective and/or
Emotional Memory, for instance,
are two of the most important Method acting techniques and are based on
relaxation and sense memory: The student recreates a heightened situation from
his/her own life through either describing the sensory experiences at the time
of a certain occurrence or recreating the sensory realities in the body. S/he does
not tell the story or give the facts of the situation but relates only the
sensory experiences to a teacher in class. This keeps the student safe and the
personal information private. These techniques are used when a strong response
of fear, joy, jealousy, excitement, pain, laughter, anger, being in love, etc.
is required to create the character or responses required by the character.
These heightened memories must be at least seven years old – fresh pain is
never worked on – and is always to be done in class with an experienced teacher
who can deal with any challenges that may arise. Less loaded or “ordinary” life
memories can be worked on by experienced students without having to be taken
through the process by a teacher.
Either way, as with all Method exercises
that require response and expression, the only real difficulty arises when the
student does not express fully and freely (through reasons like fear,
resistance, being blocked, etc.), which may cause the body to start tingling
and freeze up due to blocked sensation and expression. There are easy
techniques to clear this and continue working.
Students that do this work successfully
and repeat the memory as an exercise a number of times, get to work through the
life memory and heal the experience, which loses its “kick” by becoming
familiar through repetition. The student also has the opportunity to “manage”
and “observe” the past life situation from the outside, releasing any fears
there may still be around the experience and taking charge of the process from
a new perspective and armed with new resources. Distance is obtained and this
brings about healing, self-confidence, a sense of personal power in solving
life issues, maturity and insight.
6.
Though
acting brings up many fears and concerns about forgetting your lines, falling
over the mat on opening night, looking like a fool, making a hash of things,
etc. and causes major stress about not being good or beautiful or talented
enough (the usual nightmares suffered by the over-sensitive actor) students do
get the opportunity to work through their emotional and/or life issues during
the training process, if they wish to do so. Low self-esteem, shyness,
jealousy, lack of confidence, fear of being observed or communicating with
groups of people, the inability to be “yourself” etc. are often successfully
dealt with over time. If actor-artists go through with the training process,
they become much more self-accepting – dropping their masks – and learn to like
who they are. This enables them to be honest and open and express themselves
truthfully as artists.
7.
We
need to stress that actor training is about
training actors. It has become clear to
me over time, however, that the development of insight, maturity, personal,
spiritual and emotional growth, becoming aware of and healing psychological
issues, as well as understanding and acceptance of the self, seem to be part of
the package. Acting is a very personal process where the individual trains and
uses him or herself – body, mind, emotions, voice, movement, creative ability, intellect
– to create “others” truthfully. When you work with yourself in this way, truth,
self-awareness and self-knowledge must result.
3 December 2013
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