Why with the time do I not glance aside

To new-found methods and to compounds strange?

Sonnet LXXVI

 

EACH GENERATION OF ACTING TUTORS REFINES THE techniques of the previous generation in order to suit the climate of the times. Each decade seems to have its own particular version of naturalism, as can be seen by looking at old films. But the interesting thing is that the performances that have stood the test of time still look truthful today, whatever style of acting is going on around them. As a young actor, I was taught to use my voice with articulation and modulation in order to ensure that the audience could understand what I was saying. The acting style in current television drama is to whisper lines so intensely that they can hardly be heard. But whatever the prevailing trend, the actors who we all remember are the ones who live truthfully through their performance.

John Wayne has starred in more films than anyone else, and his record is unlikely to be broken. When I was young, I rather looked down on John Wayne because I didn’t think he was a ‘real’ actor. In fact, he didn’t even seem to take himself seriously as an actor. He famously said: ‘I don’t act… I react.’ And it’s true. Look at his films now, even ones that were made seventy or eighty years ago, and he still looks alive on the screen. There is nothing spectacular about the way he phrases his lines, and the dialogue doesn’t even seem that important to him. But watch his eyes. See him listen. Watch him respond. It’s thrilling. If you ask yourself why John Wayne starred in more films than anyone else, you have to say that it is because people wanted to watch him on the screen. And what they wanted to watch was the life he brought to his performances. Each of his films was so truthful it was like seeing a documentary about the life of John Wayne. Indeed, in his early Westerns his character was often actually called John! And at least three of the characters he played in the late 1930s and early 1940s were called Duke, which eventually became his nickname.

 

‘An ounce of behaviour is worth more than a pound of words.’ (Sanford Meisner)

I’ve no idea whether the American acting guru Sanford Meisner appreciated the acting style of John Wayne, but there is no doubt that they both believed in some of the same things. Stanislavsky was right in asking actors to look inside themselves to find the truth of the character, but by the time his training had been imported to America and refined by Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and the Group Theatre in the middle of the last century, ‘The Method’, as it came to be called, had become a cult of the inner life of a character. But Meisner thought this was putting the actors inside their heads too much. Their focus was exclusively on themselves, and as a result their performances seemed to be too inward-looking. His idea was simply to develop some exercises to train the actor to get their attention off themselves and onto the other actor. He thought that all good acting was reactive and that an impulsive response could be trained and strengthened like a muscle. If you pinch someone, they say ‘ouch’. But they can’t say ‘ouch’ until they’ve been pinched. And what is also important to remember is that the ‘ouch’ response happens impulsively, before they’ve even had time to think about it.

Meisner came up with an exercise called repetition in order to help the actor to see clearly, and respond truthfully and impulsively from their own point of view. He said repetition was like a ballet exercise, which trains the muscles of seeing clearly and responding truthfully so the response becomes habitual. It’s like the two blades of a pair of self-sharpening scissors. The more they are used, the sharper they get.

Once the actors have strengthened these muscles, then they can add the given circumstances to bring a scene to life.

What follows is a series of exercises and rehearsal techniques that we teach to the second-year acting students at ArtsEd. Although they are based on Meisner techniques and inspired by them, they are not necessarily pure Meisner. Aileen Gonsalves, who teaches these techniques, continues to develop and refine them to suit the needs of the modern actor. The Meisner training is a big step for our students to take for two reasons. Firstly, they have been taught how to analyse a text in order to bring the dialogue to life, yet Meisner trains them to do the same thing by trusting their own instincts in performance. And secondly, they have been shown how to create character through research and physical transformation, yet Meisner says that ‘character’ is the actor him or herself under a given set of circumstances.

Actually, these approaches are not mutually exclusive. Both are trying to achieve the same thing: i.e. a truthful performance and an expressive characterisation. But where one approach does this analytically in the rehearsal room the other does it impulsively during an actual performance. It’s like learning to drive a car. At first you have to concentrate on how to operate the steering wheel, the brakes and the gear shift, but once you have learned the technique it becomes more and more instinctive, until eventually you forget all about it, concentrate on the journey, and respond to whatever is happening around you.

Meisner ensures that truthful creativity happens in performance and not just in rehearsal. As I said before:

 

Performance should be a reflection of life, not a reproduction of it.

The Reality of Doing

The actors count the number of books on a shelf, or they listen for the number of cars passing outside the window.

This exercise introduces the actors to the concept of being unaffectedly real even when they are being observed.

The simple activity of counting books on a shelf is easy to do. If all the actors do it together and are then asked to say how many books they have counted, they will tell you straight out: ‘Twelve!’ – because that is the truth. It’s simple.

But if half of the group are told to go and count the books while the other half watches, some of them will start ‘acting’ counting the books because they feel they have to do something. But they don’t. They have to learn to trust the truth of the activity. All they need to do is literally count the books on the shelf and find out how many there are.

It’s the same when the actors are asked to listen and respond. They don’t have to ‘act’ listening or ‘act’ responding; they just have to listen and then let the response happen by itself.

The only thing that makes this simple activity difficult is the actors’ desire to get it right and to be good at it. And that only comes about because they are being observed. In real life, no one thinks twice about whether they are listening correctly, or being good at responding to something. They just do it.

 

Acting is the reality of doing.

Observing the World

The actors walk around the room, tuning in to everything that they can see, hear and smell.

There is so much that we ignore going on in the world around us. In fact, we learn how to filter our sensory input from a very early age to make it possible to function. Of course, it’s important to hear a car coming down the road, otherwise we might get run over, but when we are indoors we soon learn to ignore the sound of traffic outside the window because it poses no danger. We walk down a crowded street surrounded by all manner of people who pass us by in a blur because our brain filters out anything that doesn’t interest us – but if there is an attractive person coming towards us we notice them immediately. Just because our attention is drawn towards a particularly bad smell or a particularly sweet perfume, it doesn’t mean that our noses aren’t working the rest of the time.

Unfortunately, when we are acting, this filtering of our sensory input often works against us because we filter out the wrong things. It’s important to remember the lines or to monitor our objectives and actions, but this inward-thinking can cause us to filter out the subtle changes of thought and emotion that are being expressed by the people we are acting with. We don’t listen to them properly because we already know what they are saying. It’s the same thing they said last time we ran the scene. It’s the words of the script.

But if actors practise observing every detail of the room they will become accustomed to taking the attention off themselves and putting it onto something external. Ultimately, this will include the other actors and the scene they are in.

Responding

Without talking, two actors walk back and forth towards each other, each responding to the other’s movements.

As they do this, each person should only move if the other person makes them want to move. They shouldn’t be generous by trying to make it easy for the other person, they should simply let themselves respond impulsively. If they don’t want to walk back just because the other person is walking back, then they don’t have to do it. The actors have to understand that they have permission to make an uninhibited response without self-censorship.

 

They shouldn’t try to ‘get it right’.

This exercise encapsulates the whole Meisner technique, so it is worth monitoring what the actors are doing in order for them to understand the very basics. Some people will want to please their opposite number and bring harmony to the exercise by mirroring everything they do, while others will be constantly opposing their partner’s moves as they try to take control. Some people will try to be funny; others will try to be clever. This is because they are trying to ‘do something’ rather than allowing themselves to be instinctive. In order to avoid this danger, it is useful for the actors to maintain eye contact, and avoid talking or touching.

By practising this exercise, the actors learn to tune in to the subtleties of each other’s behaviour and make instinctive responses.

Repetition

Repetition is the primary tool of Meisner training, and it needs to be taught carefully so that the actors will be able to use it without thinking. It can seem strange at first, and learning how to do it takes up a lot of time. Several sessions at least. But then practising the scales on a piano can seem strange when all you want to do is play a piano concerto. And practising piano scales certainly takes up a lot of time.

Stage One

Two actors sit in chairs facing each other, about one to two metres apart, while the rest of the group watches. One of the actors starts by simply observing some behaviour in the other person. For instance, they might say, ‘You’re crossing your arms.’ The other actor then repeats that sentence word for word: ‘You’re crossing your arms.’ Then they both keep repeating the same sentence word for word, taking it in turns.

Of course, this doesn’t make any sense at all, but that doesn’t matter at this stage because the actors are trying to get to the pure emotion that exists beneath the surface of the words. Meisner thought that language was like a canoe that floats on the surface of the river of emotions. So the words in this exercise are simply a conduit for the actors to connect with each other. They don’t have to do anything except to listen and repeat the words exactly. But the way they say the words – the quality or emotional content – must be an unconscious, truthful response to how the other actor makes them feel. Each actor’s attention must always be on the other actor.

When they first do this exercise they may find themselves thinking about how they should respond. This is because their focus is within themselves. In their own heads. What we are trying to do is to get their focus away from themselves and onto someone else, so they can respond without thinking. They need to get out of their heads. It’s like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars when he learns to ‘feel the force’. They have to let go of their desire to be in control.

As the actors play around with this exercise, they have to be continually reminded to get out of their own heads. When the exercise is done properly it can be very exposing, because each actor’s attention is entirely on the other actor, and that means their defences are down. This is exactly what happens when you fall in love. You are purely focused on the other person, and you are really seeing them. And if the object of your desire is in love with you, then they are really seeing you. Love is not about two individuals; it’s about the moment when two people connect with each other. It’s the reality and the honesty of that moment that we are trying to achieve as actors.

The emotions that come to the surface during repetition are not always romantic or joyful. Sometimes they can be aggressive and confrontational, so there is one major rule for these Meisner exercises:

 

No one is allowed to hit anyone.

Stage Two

Two actors stand up and face each other. As before, one of them starts by observing some behaviour in the other person. But this time the pronoun changes in response to the other actor. For instance, if one person says, ‘You’re crossing your arms,’ then the other says, ‘I’m crossing my arms.’ The first person continues with, ‘You’re crossing your arms,’ and the other responds with, ‘I’m crossing my arms.’ And so on.

This slight shift starts to give some meaning to the dialogue, and this makes the actors want to be inventive with their emotional response. As a result, they tend to go back into their heads and start ‘acting’. This can be closely monitored by reminding them to get out of their heads. In other words, they should put their attention totally on the other person and let their responses be as impulsive as before. They are trying to achieve an emotional response without thinking about it or ‘doing’ anything.

Stage Three

Two actors stand up and face each other. As before, one actor starts by observing some behaviour in the other actor and the other actor responds by repeating that observation but changing the pronoun. This continues until one actor is compelled by the other’s behaviour to change the text entirely. For instance, the two actors are repeating ‘You’re crossing your arms,’ ‘I’m crossing my arms,’ until one person is compelled to say, ‘You’re smiling.’ At this point the other actor has to respond to this new observation and say, ‘I’m smiling’, and then both actors use this new text until one of them has the impulse to change it again.

The actors don’t make these text changes happen; the text changes happen to the actors. They fly out like birds released from their cages, conscious only of their limitless freedom.

As before, the change in text should always be in response to something that is observed in the other person, it should never be forced. In fact, it’s perfectly fine not to change the text at all. The actors should continue to respond to everything they observe in each other and only change the text when they feel compelled to do so.

It’s quite difficult to get the balance right to start with, because once the actors are given permission to change the text, they want to do it all the time. This can be monitored by asking the rest of the group if they feel the changes were being imposed rather than being spontaneous.

It’s also important to point out that these observations should not be about emotions. If someone were to say, ‘You’re making me angry,’ they would be thinking about themselves and that would be missing the point of the exercise. They should be trying to connect with the other person, not thinking about their own feelings. Of course, one of the actors could actually be getting angry, but then they would let that anger come out in the simple repetition of the text, as in ‘You’re playing with your pen.’ It could be possible to observe ‘You’re getting angry’, but that would only muddy the issue, because the other person would have to repeat ‘I’m getting angry,’ and then they would be talking about their own emotions. If one person has an instinctive response to the other person’s anger, then that person should observe the other’s behaviour and not their emotion, as in ‘You’re shouting.’

This third stage is what I will now refer to a repetition exercise, and it is what we have been working towards. The fine-tuning of this exercise takes time – probably several sessions – but repetition is the bedrock of Meisner work, and once it is learned, it can be practised on a regular basis like barre exercises. It can also be used to explore the emotional subtext of a scene and to get the actors to connect with each other at any time during the rehearsal process.

Each repetition exercise usually lasts about two minutes, but later on, when the exercise is embedded in their psyche, two actors can clarify a moment of connection by doing the exercise for only as long as it is necessary. Sometimes ten or fifteen seconds will be enough.

Repetition is very exposing, because the actors are letting their own emotions take over. They are not being polite. In fact, they shouldn’t be polite. They have permission to be impolite! And they should definitely take things personally. It should really matter to them. This will make it feel extremely real because it is extremely real. So if two people have been shouting at each other during the exercise, they should check that they are still okay with each other when they have finished. Similarly, if two people have been feeling very intimate as they do the exercise, they should make sure that there is no misunderstanding about their relationship when the exercise is over.

Meisner is about the two actors and the present moment. And that moment creates a subconscious response that becomes the next moment. It’s like when two people are having a fight and one of them stubs their toe, which makes them both start laughing. The fight is forgotten as the laughter takes over. They connect from moment to moment.

It is unrealistic to think that the two actors are totally connected with each other 100% of the time. 10% of their attention will be on the knowledge that they are in a rehearsal room, on the stage or in front of the camera, and 10% will be tuning in to outside responses. And it is that 20% of external focus that keeps them safe. It stops them falling off the stage or walking into the camera. And it gives them a certain amount of control. But ultimately the other 80% of their attention will be fully on the other person, and 0% will be in control of their own impulsive responses.

Back-to-Back Repetition

Two actors do the repetition exercise, but standing back to back so they can’t see each other.

This exercise helps each actor make a deep connection with the other actor, because their focus has to be on the most subtle manifestations of thought and emotion. But there is no such thing as nothing. Even if one actor is compelled to say, ‘You’re not moving,’ they will be having an emotional response to the fact that they can’t detect anything from the other person, and that will get the ball rolling.

Silent Repetition

Two actors face each other and do the repetition exercise without words, so they are both making a physical response to each other.

This exercise is the polar opposite of the previous exercise because the actors are now responding only to what they can see rather than what they can hear. As they tune in to the unconscious physical messages that they send to each other, their physical responses become automatic and unconsidered.

The Givens

This is short for the ‘given circumstances’, but since I have used that expression in a slightly differently context earlier in the book, I will shorten it to ‘the givens’ when talking about the Meisner technique.

When the actors have learned to give full attention to each other and to respond impulsively, the next stage is to colour the repetition exercise by making specific preparations and having objectives. These are called the ‘givens’, and they are how the actors create character. Their transformation has nothing to do with wigs, make-up and funny walks; it is internal. In fact, it is simply themselves working under a specific set of circumstances.

Preps

One actor stands outside the door and gets connected with an emotion while another actor does the same thing inside the room. When the person inside the room is ready, he or she shuts the door as a signal that they are ready to start. Then, when the person outside the room is also ready, they knock on the door, enter, and the two actors begin the repetition exercise.

This first given is to do with the feelings or emotions that the actors can connect with. Happiness, stress, anger, sadness… Whatever they like. In order to do this, they can tell themselves a story, remember an experience from their own lives or use any other method that works best for them. The important thing is to find a key that will stimulate a real emotion. Something that presses their buttons.

As soon as the actors meet, they should each give their full attention to the other person. They don’t exactly drop their prep, but their response to the other actor is coloured by their prepped emotion. For instance, if one person has prepped to be really upset and the other person has prepped to be blissfully happy, then each will immediately be affected by the other person’s behaviour. They see the world through the eyes of their emotion, but their attention is fully on the other person, and that is what they are responding to.

This exercise is not an end in itself, it is simply to train actors to work truthfully under a single given circumstance. Eventually, the technique will be applied to specific texts, and the preps will be appropriate to whatever character the actor is playing.

Knowledge

After the actors have prepped, but before they start their repetition, each is given a piece of information about the other person. (This information is invented by the director: it is not the truth.)

Specific knowledge about the characters will ultimately come from the script, but at this stage an extra bit of information about the other person will add another layer to the repetition exercise. The actors can be told things about each other like ‘Chris really fancies you’ or ‘You’ve just overheard Hannah slagging you off’. So when they begin the repetition exercise, each person will see the other through the eyes of this new piece of information. They won’t know what the other person has been told, so they will often start misreading each other. This is how a scene starts to develop.

Although this ‘scene’ still consists of the basic repetition exercise with words that are virtually meaningless, the underlying emotional connection and reaction will continue to be real and immediate.

Misreading and Projection

Two actors leave the room and the rest of the group stay in the room. The actors outside the room are asked to imagine that the rest of the group are all police officers. The actors inside the room don’t know this, they are just asked to be themselves. When the two outsiders come into the room, the inside group must pretend that they don’t know them and start asking them questions.

This exercise can be repeated with the actors outside the room being told that the group inside the room are all small children, or casting directors, or sports stars, etc.

Whatever the actors outside the room are told, they will behave accordingly. For instance, if they imagine that they are meeting a group of police officers they may get defensive when they are asked questions. This could lead to the rest of the group getting more authoritarian to try to get answers. If the actors coming into the room believe they are meeting small children, they will probably be happy to answer questions and they will make sure their answers are simple and easy to understand. At this point, the group inside the room, who are being treated like children, will start to behave like children. They respond to suit the behaviour of the other two actors, even though they have no idea what they are supposed to be.

This exercise prepares the actors for the next given.

As Ifs

After the actors have prepped, they are asked to do the repetition exercise as if the other person were someone else.

This given is to do with our behaviour patterns. We all have different versions of ourselves depending on who we are with. Different people bring about unconscious changes in our behaviour. Changes that we often don’t even notice.

So the repetition exercise could be done as if the other person were the actor’s brother. Or their ex-boyfriend. Or their girlfriend’s father.

This exercise could also be done as if the other person were a specific type, like a bank manager or a hired killer, but whatever ‘as if’ is selected, the actor must apply it to the other actor and not think about their own behaviour.

When they do this, each actor changes the way they behave to suit the selected ‘as if’, but at the same time they are responding to the way the other person is treating them, because they too will be using an ‘as if’. When both actors apply their ‘as ifs’, a complex scene will start to unfold.

And they are still just doing the repetition exercise. ‘You’re scratching your nose’, ‘I’m scratching my nose.’

Objectives

During the repetition exercise, each actor has to get the other actor to do something.

The actors can only use the words of the repetition exercise, but as they do it they have to try to make the other person jump, or leave the room, or sit on the floor. Whatever they want. They can’t use any words about these activities, but each actor must be entirely focused on the other in order to see if their objectives are going well or badly.

For instance, if one person has decided that their objective is to get the other person to leave the room, and the other person isn’t walking towards the door as soon as the repetition exercise starts, then the objective is not going well. So there has to be some sort of tactic to make the other person move. This tactic can be really bold. Maybe the person with the objective could walk towards the door themselves to see if the other person will follow. If the other person makes even the tiniest movement towards the door that will be a positive thing, and it will bring about a positive response. Each person has to be totally focused on the other so as to pick up the slightest indication whether their objective is going well or badly.

When the repetition exercise starts, it’s important that the actors go straight for their objective. There’s no point in holding back or waiting to build towards it. They must try to achieve their objective now!

Stakes

During a repetition exercise, each actor should think of a strong reason why they need to achieve their objective. They should try to make it truly matter for themselves; the stakes should be really high.

If an objective is actually important, then it raises the stakes and gives dynamism to the exercise. At the same time there will be close attention on the other person to see if the objective is being achieved. If it isn’t, then the tactics will have to be changed immediately. There is no point in pursuing a plan of action if it is not getting any results. It’s like a child trying to get their parents to buy them a toy. Although this objective has extremely high stakes for the child, they will never continue with a tactic that is not paying off. If pleading doesn’t work, then maybe sulking will do the trick. If that’s not working, how about smiling sweetly. Or flattering. Actually, children are quick to learn how to employ the right tactics to manipulate their parents!

So if the actors raise the stakes of an objective they automatically have to tune in to each other’s responsive behaviour. Even from a distance. Imagine that you are at a party and there is someone you really fancy over the other side of the room. It doesn’t matter what else is going on, or who you are talking to, you are totally tuned in to everything that the person you fancy is doing, because the stakes are high for you. You are making the connection because it’s important to you.

The Four Givens

The four basic givens that the actors will use when they start working with a script are:

 

Preps:	‘How am I feeling?’
As Ifs:	‘Who is the other person?’
Objectives:	‘What do I want from them?’
Stakes:	‘Why is it important to me?’

These givens will bring a scene to life, but they can only work if each actor is taking their attention away from themselves and giving it to the other actor.

 

Actors should get out of their heads and live truthfully under a given set of circumstances.