To fail in spectacular ways

Thoughts on training from Chris Jacobs on the Facebook group Shakespeare Unleashed. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Chris is one of the most experienced, and perhaps the only, teacher of Meyerhold’s biomechanics training for actors in South East Asia. Thanks Chris!

Exercise Protocol for Actors:

An acting exercise is a repeatable action which is designed with very specific objectives in mind, with each intrinsic element of that exercise existing in such a form as to allow the actor to progressively work towards the successful attainment of those objectives.

Therefore the manner in which an exercise is approached and carried out, both physically and mentally, is critical to the success of  that exercise, and the further development of the actor.

Actors who think they are exercising or training only the muscles of their physical bodies, are cheating themselves.

Actors who modify each exercise in order to make it easier or more comfortable to execute, are cheating themselves.

Actors who approach each exercise as a ‘Starting Point’ for an improvisation performance, are cheating themselves.

Actors who exploit each exercise in order to illustrate their superiority or ‘Stage Cred’, are cheating themselves.

Actors who exploit each exercise in order to evaluate the abilities of others, are cheating themselves.

Training exercises are acting disciplines: in every moment of every exercise the actor must be, at one and the same time, exercising and training the muscles of his mind, i.e., Will, Focus, Concentration, Courage, Tenacity and Stamina, in addition to those of his physical being.

Training exercises are not treasure troves of knowledge: they build doorways that lead towards  knowledge.

Training exercises are not secret methods for showing one how to be expressive or to “reveal” oneself: they are work, and their true benefits are released through the time and the fatigue of long, monotonous work.

Training exercises are not pursuits of hedonism: they coax actors outside what is comfortable, deny them what is easy, dare them to risk what is frightening, and actively encourage them to fail in spectacular ways.

Chris Jacobs 2012

What it means to perform

John Emigh:

“What the audience wants from the actor is an example of how to live this life.”

Notes from Theater East and West: Revisited, 2002, a conference in honour of Leonard Pronko’s work and the 35th anniversary of his book, Theater East and West.

Actor-Shaman

The actor as shaman embodies the hopes, dreams, doubts, and weaknesses of the audience – becomes a screen on which all of these are projected. But the screen must BE. It must not be blank and must be PRESENT and visible and OPEN TO THE GAZE OF THE “OTHER.”

Our instinct is to hide, either by getting small (physically or in spirit) or by putting up a front, by “acting” – impersonating or declaring.

To do neither is an act of courage that has nothing to do with fearlessness or with arrogance. It’s just to know and be exactly where one is in the present moment.

[updated March 1, 2009]

Actor-Warrior

An actor is a collaborative Warrior.

Is strong enough to stand alone but doesn’t need to in order to do uncompromised, rigorous work.

Is able to craft and make work when things are least in control and most chaotic.

Is able to welcome, embrace and accept diversity and challenge and absorb and integrate it into the work.

Is patient and compassionate while standing on one’s own ground.

Is as ready to receive as to give, always aware that exchange means traffic in both directions.