It has been helpful to me recently to try to find the common ground between all of the different forms of training that we work with and then to actively find how I can apply that common ground to the actual text and work.
All the different forms of training that we do demand action. The emphasis is placed on the doing and if there is any thinking to be done, it is best done either on our feet or in reflection after much doing. Our bodies are our greatest tool for "text work."
All the different forms of training encourage us to use our imagination. From images of the voice/pilates work or the images of the Niky/viewpoints training. Yet, I think that imagination is a area where our training can grow. How can we more actively engage our imaginations in the training?
I find that all the forms of training encourage me to concentrate. I actually think our current training is ideal for the development of concentration and attention. I think that concentration and attention on stage is a Magis strength.
Relaxation is something I find we could do more of in training. Maybe it is just me, but I find that because the training is so physical and active, I always feel that I need to be "DOING" something. How can we find more relaxation in our training without losing the rigor that we have? How can we learn to "Do," and "Be" at the same time.
Another area where any actor always needs to grow is in a sense of truth and naturalism. As in the above paragraph, everything that we do is so active and the text is so rich, but the question must be "how do I feel like a real person with a sense of truth and faith in what I am doing?" How can we be active and engage rich text, and yet seem of this world and not of some alien theatre world? I find that this sense of truth and faith is found in both relaxation and emotional memory. Is there a place in our training for emotional memory?
I feel that the different forms of training have helped us learn to listen to each other.
These are just some thoughts that I have had recently. I am new to this whole Blogging thing so please allow me some time to get up to speed.
---Frank Mihelich
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2 comments:
Great comments Frank.
Some of the most exciting material I find in Stanislavksi's "Creating a Role" are the pages about both active imagination and passive imagination.
We have done these exercises in some of the workshops and intensives we held in the past, and it may be a good time to bring some of them back, especially as we develop "The Witlings." Let's make some time to do that.
The tension between action/relaxation is an important one that is addressed in yoga and somewhat in the Qi Gong/ Tai Chi work we have been doing lately, but lets look for ways that we can translate that training to stage time.
A word about "emotional memory:" this seems to be an oft disputed point in discussions on training in all the schools. When I find this work most productive and most satisfying is when, as Uta Hagen states, it is COMPLETELY transfered to the stage reality. She speaks of it as important for substitution, but cautions that a substitution is never complete until EVERY bit of the original stimulus finds a correspondence to the stage reality. In classwork or in training it is good to sharpen those skills... I am just conscious that this technique is intensely personal. I use this technique a lot yet I always do my work with this on my own. I never want to impose this on a group, but if the group would like to work with some of these exercises, then let's do it! The important thing in any of this, in private work or in company work, is that it be done in a secure and reverent way.
How do others feel about this?
---George Drance
Relaxation is something I find we could do more of in training. Maybe it is just me, but I find that because the training is so physical and active, I always feel that I need to be "DOING" something. How can we find more relaxation in our training without losing the rigor that we have? How can we learn to "Do," and "Be" at the same time.
Another area where any actor always needs to grow is in a sense of truth and naturalism."
I attempted (and will continue to do so) to address this when I led the Taylor exercises the week before by saying "don't go into the Zombie zone", "be aware of Mom in the third row", "be aware of the company around you" and by switching places after each exercise. I feel we can have a balance of intensity/focus in which we work with acknowledging the present moment, i.e. not "Zombying out". Being free open & free to whatever that moment is.
Whether you giggle, have an epiphany, scratch your nose, etc. Be open to the impulses that come before you because that brings the organic life, joy, fun and reality to the stage. This genuine energy is what the audience will engage and positively respond to. We tend to kill these impulses in training in our desire "to get it right". Yes, attempt to do the work or exercise the way it was intended but don't kill your impulses that will make it come alive; please share what is your personal experience with it.
---Gabe
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