Christopher Tester

I was first introduced to the Meisner technique by the actor/director/writer Che Walker in 2005.  Having been introduced to the repetition exercise during rehearsals for the NYT's production of The Big Nickel, I was sufficiently intrigued to find out more about the technique.  Subsequently, I discovered The Actors Temple -  the only company in the UK to offer a full training in Sanford Meisner's technique.  Most importantly, it is a company run by actors, for actors, and is completely practical.

My own personal experience of training at the Temple has been a combination of full time courses, intensive weeks, 'drop-ins' and evening classes.  As I make my way to completing the full training, I've attempted to condense all my notes for easy reference both for other current students and those interested in finding out more about the technique. 

The Training:

Term 1;  Term 2; Text Analysis

Sanford Meisner: American Theatre's Best Kept Secret - Documentary

Acting is doing. 

Thus, our first exercise as a group was to count the bricks in the wall of the studio we were working in.  After five minutes, Simon Furness (our main tutor) stopped us and asked us how much we were concentrating purely on the task in hand, how much on something else.  I answered as honestly as I could: 70% on counting, 10% on wondering what the criteria of the task was (do we count the bricks behind the cupboard), 10% on wanting to make a good impression in my first class and the remainder devoted to working out how my fellow classmates were doing it.  Simon's response was simple: "then you are 70% on your way to becoming an actor".

Getting lost in thought is okay during an exercise as long as you recognise it and make the effort to pull yourself out of it.

The second exercise: remember a song and replay it exactly in you head.  If your forget or lose the rhythm at any point, begin again.  Once more, the emphasis was not on any end result but purely on the doing.  If you fail initially, that's okay, just start again.  To quote Beckett: try again, fail again, fail better.  But don't give up.

How, Simon asked, might you do the same activities as a character - Hamlet or Ophelia for example?

The truth is, you can't.  To begin with, Hamlet et al are simply words on a page.  You can't believe you 'are' Hamlet.  An audience will simply accept that I am unless I act unto the contrary.  The audience are on your side in this respect - they want to believe in you.

"The sum total of a man is in his actions" - Aristotle

What is it to act?

To live truthfully under imaginary circumstances. 

Simon asked us what ther difference is between 'make believe' and the 'imaginary'.  'Make believe' would be to say that we were all sitting in his living room rather than the studio.  'Imaginary' would be if Simon had liver cancer (for example).... it's a proposition that truely suspends our disbelief.

Why do you want to be an actor?

At this point my mind immediately to my trip to Moscow, where Viktor had encouraged us to pose this question to ourselves on a daily basis.  But fundamentally, we don't know for sure.  Not all the time.

Where's your attention?

In life, we do two or three things seemingly simultaneously.  Onstage, such activity by an actor usually makes the audience simply confused.

Another exercise: we each pointed a finger to our knee.  What could we sense without being purely descriptive?  Shapes, colour, tempreture and pressure.  But never exactly at the same time.  The mind might alternate between different things to create the illusion of simultaneous experience, but it is an illusion.  When acting, we must only focus on doing one thing at a time, moment to moment.

The Repetition Exercise

You must not change what's been said.

Repeat as soon as you've fully heard the other partner.

Maintain your point of view, and allow your instinct to provoke changes in it.

"Talent is the capacity to take pains" - Leonardo

Aim to complete two solid hours with a partner.  Like any muscle required for exercise, it simply demands continual and focused practise through the repetition of exercise.

Don't do anything until something happens to make you do it.

Don't try to go into an 'acting mode' before the exercise: be where you are.  If that's tense, lazy, frustrated, pissed off.... then so be it.

Remember you are responsible for getting your partner out of their head if it appears they are 'thinking'.  Provoke them.

Remember we are working towards spontaneous, impulse drive dialogue.

Don't 'think' of things to say if a repition lasts for a long time... let it go deeper.  A need to 'make something' stops the freedom of true responsiveness.

If you don't want to be hurt, don't be an actor. 

Remember it's all about connection.... (the key word in all my training thus far!)

Impulse - an instinct from where?  The gut.  In life we repress it.  To use a quote, elimante the "careful now" of Father Ted in your conduct onstage. 

Rememeber: I do something = I mean something.  Simon threw Jo's purse on the ground with disdain.  Meaning?  He has no respect for her.  Simple as.

Conduct with the stage:  Those who go up to repeat or do an exercise never simply 'walk onstage', but go around the back of the studio and 'walk on'.  The communication begins from the moment both partners get up to work from the audience - feed off the signals they are or aren't giving you but never assume anything.

Remember it's okay to be bored as long as that is what's only going on.  Always cut to the chase.

Beware of intellectualised observations, eg. "you're tactile".  It keeps the relationship and situation at a safe arms length, which is not what drama is about.

Never try harder.  It's about being open and just sitting in it, however 'undramatic' and uncomfrotable that may feel.

"Acting is the art of self-betrayal" - George Bernhard Shaw.

Don't let a partner's lines go over you - keep listening moment to moment.

You may be married in life, but never in your acting life.  There is no room for inhibitions.

However you may feel, remember there are NO dead moments.... every moment has a meaning.

(My personal notes: I musn't act or 'demonstrate' my responses.  I seem very cut off from my partner sometimes... truely listen).

Trying hard = not knowing what you're doing.  Don't shoot the arrow, let the arrow shoot you - all about fully giving in to the repition.

Public solitude

Choose an independent activity, and pick a reason why you're doing it.

Set them up in a way that is compelling to you.

It must be urgent - set a strict time limit after which your activity must be completed.

Remember it's a dramatic scenario, so telescope the time.  Two hours in life quating to half an hour of stage time for example.

Keep asking: Have I got enough to make me act?

The 'knock on the door' is the opening line.  Answer it only when you feel you have to.

You answer what the kncok does to you.  After that, all bets are off... you do not try and 'maintain' your initial objective over working off your partner at any point.

Remember that working towards 'truth' is a personal process: it's all about what's truthful TO YOU.  Getting a 'fuck buddy' might simply be more activating than saving your girlfriend from cancer.  Don't censor yourself, just be honest in what truely activates.  Rememeber the situation needs to provoke you, not drag you into acting.

When choosing reasons, important to remeber that we often fear the same things (lonliness, death) but hope for very different ones.

(Homework:  Write a monologue about a significant event in your past and then learn it as you would a professional script.  Avoid refernces to feeling - keep it purely with facts and details).

Our homework monologues were performed: going backstage the coming onstage to look at all of the audience before picking one person to deliverr it to.  Keep focus on the other person throughout.  Once you start, keep going.

All of the monologues given were immensely truthful and honest.  I did a monologue describing how two of my friends were beaten and arrested infront of me, how I was arrested for complaining about that, and how they subsequently spent a year overshadowed by police charges that were eventually thrown out of court.  Simon said that this was the benchmark for all my subsequent acting.

But he continued - the exercise deliberately highlights the problem of drawing on experiences from the past - you feel about the event how you feel about it, and that is not massively subject to change... or more importantly, direction.  If used repeatedly (ie. a long run), the tactic will either prove repetitive and desensitising OR lead you further into personal emotional problems.  In neither way will you ever work of either audience or a partner.

(Homework: 'Unfinished business' - A monologue again written by yourself, hitting on the things you should have or wished you'd said to a person or group of people.  They could be deceased already... people talk to gravestones.  Must have a truthful route: you've never expressed this before).

(My notes: Don't resist your partner, but more importantly take them seriously.  I have a tendency to laugh or freeze when confrontation arises, and they are basically defusing devices that I've needed in real life but dampen any capacity for conflict onstage.  I have grown into the habit of distancing or laughing at things which are in actual fact hugely important, and this can only be overcome by a complete submission into the reality of a partner's attitude and pov).

Remember that once you've knocked on the door, your role is to be completely sensitive to the other person's reactions, whether they answer it immediately or not - not distracted by your own motivations.

Acting is about being invaded by the other person.

People do, actors often fall into thinking about doing.  That's the problem of simply 'maintaining the objective' throughout a scene which involves other real people.

It's fine to revisit an older activity, but only if the work itself has gone deeper.

For monologue stage 2: Still has to be as effortless as the first one you did.  Always stick to just facts and details.  The audience member you choose to address stands in for the person(s) your piece is addressed to - it can be whoever you want it to be.

These initial monologue processes are in many ways antithetical to Mesiner - it's a quick way of provoking a response within you, but lacks a capacity for redirection, can be deadened over repition and can put your mental health at risk.  The key is to get your imagination involved.  Though initially much harder and demanding expansion, the results will give you much greater creative freedom.

Emotional recall often makes an actor 'go inside themselves' before returning to the partner - see the performances of James Dean as an example.  He often went 'inwards' to pull something out, leading to a disconnection from the actor opposite him.  Dredging with turn into joylessness in the creative process eventually.  Experience is finite; imagination is infinite.

If you start to get upset during repetition, stick with it and let the feeling build.  Burrow the finger in the wound, and keep burrowing.  Do not try to manipulate or shape the journey between you.

Take everything your partner says personally.  Honour them with the willingness to take them seriously and the favour will be returned.  Never retreat from them, but hit them with everything you have.  

There is no time for thought, you have to work from a purely reactive state.

Keep asking how you could make your activity more difficult.  The harder it is, the more it will engage your brain and stop you from 'coming out' of the state of just doing. 

What is a character?  Who am I?  Neither are soluble, concrete things.

Stage 3 monologue: Arriving emotionally full onstage.  An entirely invented monologue, emotional preparation talked out loud.  You are relating an event that never happened regarding someone that does matter to you.  Has to have a truthful route.  Is addressed directly to someone, eg. explanation to a police officer with the intention of informing them, possibly for help later on.  Still deal purely in facts and details.  Talking of your feelings encourages the little voice in your head to go "you didn't feel that".  As long as you care about the person discussed, that is sufficient.  Have the who and the why.

In repetition, remember to drop your reason for coming to the door as soon as you knock - all focus is subsequently on the partner and their behaviour.  Try not to lean against props, lean instead on your partner (metaphorically!).  Be uncomfortable in uncomfortable situations - learn to sit in it.  No questioning at any time during the repetition... work only in statements.  Take everything you get for face value rather than attempt to question it.

At one stage in a repetition between Jo and Patt, Simon asked Jo to touch where Patt might be 'holding'.  He immediately grew more open.  The lesson: don't block your body language with folded arms, closed body language etc.  Remain open at all times - it gives you the best chance of responding instinctively and truthfully.  Helps get rid of the 'appropriate self' that we use to operate in everyday life - it denies the truthful instincts required for acting.

Remember that silence in theatre is a moment to itself - as long as that's what's really going on.  Get over the obsession of trying to just 'play your action'.

Of your activity, always ask: do I really want to be doing it?  It is designed to put you in a realm of behaviour that is beyond your control.  It must not be the 'warm up' to another main event, that's not what we (and the paying audience) have come to see.  If the pull of the moment is back to the activity, go with it.

That which hinders your task, is your task.

Leave yourself alone at all times and wait for the moment to decide the action.  Work out what is happening rather than what you might want to happen. Typically, nine out of ten reasons are not strong enough.... again, try again, fail again, fail better.

Beware of any physical tendency to 'bob in and out' - a physical retraction almost always signposts a mental one.  Say it or do it, but stay around for the answer.

An emotional connection for the partners becomes, automatically, an emotional connection for the audience.  There is no need to show or demonstrate.

Props that are used should not be expensive because they will inhibit a partner's freedom of choice.  Props should be invested with imaginative value.

Cynicism is a lack of faith: only through application and repetition will the doubts recede.  Build your acting faith so you can really live in it.  Work honestly rather than resisting or questioning.  Adopt a 'can do' attitude rather than 'it's the taking part that counts' one.

Follow an idea for an activity to a logical extreme to raise the stakes for yourself.  Ask - have I enough to make me act.  Make the motivation sit deep within you, really get a hook into it.  If the other person doesn't take you seriously, STICK IT TO THEM.  Good actors make others snap to, drawing stuff out of them, demanding a response.

It is the job of the partner to keep you in the territory of the uncomfortable.

2nd stage monologues: remember, only what you need to say.  You don't have to sit before speaking - the only format is to exit the studio and re-enter the stage.  The need to speak to someone comes at any point, just wait until you get a connection.

Simon stressed - do exactly what he asks.  He wants a monologue that you have learnt like any other, this is not an improvisation and it isn't acceptable to go off on a tangent whilst you're 'in the moment'.... you'd never be allowed to do that in a production, so start marshalling yourself now.  Look for flabby material that can be cut at all times because we're looking for the pared down version - the factual essentials only.

'Knock on the door' stage 2: just walk in instead.  You have a mutually agreed relationship beforehand, both of you live in the same space and have agreed what room the stage represents beforehand.

(My notes: continued to 'act' my lines for the first half of my scene with Jon.  Finally started to leave myself alone about half way through and drop any act.  Jon's impulse was to throw me out the door, which immediately activated a much more immediate and spontaneous reaction from me.  Simon emphasised again that it's quality not quantity - if the scene had lasted only fifteeen seceonds but we had cut to the chase, he would have been pleased.  He challenged Jon - "Have you got time to be interrupted?")

Jon's activity benefitted by being made harder and out of his control when another memember of the group actually hid what he was looking for.

Remember that you are never boring doing 'nothing'.

Be aware of signs of impulses your 'acceptable slef' reigns in, and try and act on them.

Don't fall into a character playing what they want.  You can only focus on one thing at a time - not your partner and the objective, there is no room for both.

Milk every repeat for as much as it's worth until a real behavioural change occurs.

If the pull of the scene really is back to your activity, don't be polite about it by saying "I've something to do" - just go back to it.  Don't be polite because we pay to see people taking the lid off.

Take everything that is said to you seriously and personally.

If you feel yourself getting stuck, ask what you would do if no-one else was in the room but your partner.

Once you've come through the door, remember that all bets are off.

Do not try to force action in an attempt to provide dramatic interest or engineer a climax.  It will happen organically, and be more truthful, only if you let it.

The point of difficult and personally engaging activities: heightened stakes encourages stronger impulses.  When thinking of scenarios, always push them to the logical extreme rather than settling for the first concept in entirety.

During the repetition, there must be no way out for you.  Your partner is the last port of call, on whose behaviour your objective depends absolutely.  No amount of 'selling' or 'acting' can make an exercise work, indeed 90% of exercises don't, but you must take on each as fully as possible.

It is not an actors job to show or explain what is going on for the audience.  Pinter and Shepard often pick deliberately strange scenarios - the playwright does it for you.

Make what you do all about the partner.  Get on board where the other person is at, don't attempt to opt out or diffuse the situation.

Acting at its clearest is like riding a runaway course.  Events are not in your control, but you must commit to staying on at all costs, regardless of how much you're thrown about by the impulses of other people.  Over time and repeated application you will be able to stay on for longer, with extended periods of real connection and listening.  At it's best it will feel weightless, as if you aren't 'pushing' at all.

Remember: The mindset of a real actor if a show is cancelled should be frustration at being unable to release into the journey they have prepared themselves for rather than relief that they can go down the pub instead! 

The more attention we have on ourselves, the less reactive we are.  The self-concerned actor is a bore.  Focus purely on your partner and what you are trying to accomplish.

Two members of the group shared new '2nd stage' monologues with us - at the best, the emotion is brimming just underneath the surface.  It demonstrates how much emotional recall fits as a quick fix.

Deborah Carr's ideal, "No Acting Required".

In real life, we are all disconnected form ourselves to a certain degree, but when acting we must strive for emotions from the gut.

Be aware of fixity in the body - it usually means you're trying to hold on to your objective rather than the partner in front of you.  If your partner persists in not taking you seriously, make them.  If you wouldn't let something go in real life, don't let it here.

Keep stripping down your activities and beware of 'set dressing'.  If you've brought something non-essential for you activity, ditch it.  We are always trying to pare down.

Follow through all activities to their logical extreme, eg. don't use "I'm getting dressed up for x" but "I'm getting dressed up like Denise Brooks and I have to get the make-up and outfit exactly to please x".

Don't get off the subject, get into it.

(Homework for next Monday or earlier: The 3rd stage monologue.  Using someone you care about, you must describe purely factually a situation or event that has involved them.  This event is entirely imagined, but it starts with a truthful route.  Simon used the example of talking to a police officer about a friend's child that he had lost in a park.  Know exactly who and why you are talking to them, eg. an appeal for assistance.  Must have a transitional journey, starting in one tone but ending in another.  This could be comic to tragic, loud to soft or vice versa.  There is no emotional preparation prior to performance - the monologue literally is what it is).

Simon started the class with a quote from Kafka.  I paraphrase:

"One always has the choice of ignoring and not participating in the sufferings of others.  But if you do, you commit yourself to the one suffering you had the power to avoid".

Oh, self consciousness.... let's not even start!

Ask how your partner really is. 

Not agreeing with your partner is often a form of resistance - try going with it even when you disagree.  Similarly, answering in a 'surprised tone' is a way of disconnecting, of getting out of the moment.

We can always be more personal during the repeats.  Every repeat can be the end of the scene - BURN YOUR PARTNER DOWN WITH ONE REPEAT; ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE KNOCKOUT BLOW.

Self concern (eg. that "I'm boring") will always sabotage.  Go for the art of least resistance.  Get under your partner's skin, get to their essence.  Remember that under anger and aggression, what your partner is often actually experiencing is fear.

Repetition exists to get us from our heads to our guts.  When we get to our gut - let them (your partner) have it!

Always go deeper with your activities and reasons to come to the door.  To make something simple is to take it to it's logical extreme.

If your partner makes a mistake during repetition, use it rather than ignoring their error and correcting them.

When you come into the room, make sure there are substantial consequences either way the situation develops.

When you are developing ideas, keep talking them out and pushing deeper - it's the easiest way to develop your preparatory work. 

Offstage, think then act.  On stage, act then think.

Do what the moment invites you to do, but always make sure you commit to it fully.

(My notes: I often flit between extremes, either trying to make something happen or standing back and not letting anything in.  Need to remember that any problems or frustrations can only be solved in a commitment and focus on the behaviour of my partner.  I must not try and 'make' things happen, try and shape interesting moments.  I just need to let the person in rather than become consumed in wondering how well or badly I'm doing)

(Homework: Change to the regular activity + reason to come.  Now, the person who comes to the door doesn't have a reason as such, but has just come from a significant event.  It's an imaginary circumstance.  Try to vary the good and bad reasons, because you need to be proficient in both - don't worry about reasons for arriving yet, we will add them in again later).

The work of an actor is of endless refinement - you are constantly returning to the drawing board.

Whatever your take is on your partner, you must be specific; choose one thing and make it stick.  Always acknowledge the other person's emotional state, and don't change the repetition for the 'sake' of observance - it's diffusive to call something that's speculative.  When in doubt, it's laways better to stick with the repetition and make it run as deeply as possible.

If stuck,there are two methods of action:

(1) Silently tell the other person something personal about yourself.

(2) Ask "if we were alone, what would I really like to do"?

Actvities either work or they don't - it's quite simple.  It's never a question of you being a good or bad actor in this case, but rather whether you've prepared suffiecient material to make you act.  If your set-up for an activity is something you can't really believe in (eg. making a film pitch to Martin Scorsese), you're setting yourself up for a fall.

A lot of actors fall into two categories:  FEELING without DOING = unspecific mess.  DOING without FEELING = dead.

The next stage of 'the knock on the door':

You've come from an emotional event (good or bad), but it relates specifically to the person in the room whose activity you're interrupting.  They are the one to blame or celeberate for example.

The 3rd Stage monologue:

There's a tendency to stop describing the incident as soon as it becomes serious; editing around the main event.  Basically, you cut the bit that would do something to you.  Keep asking "what are you seeing" moment by moment.  We're not interested in what you think you're feeling, because engaging fully in the actual events will do it for you.  Give us details rather than speeches - in life we might edit things in order to gain perspective on them, but not when acting.  When writing, be wary of any line which might be a 'get out'.

Again, the activity has to be something you really want to do, otherwise the holes show.  Never treat it just as an 'acting exercise' because that attitude will only dilute your work.  If someone manhandles you, they're manhandling you.

If you  have a problem with your partner, get it out.  If your partner repeats over you, tell them rather than ignoring it.

Regarding Emotional Preparation:

At this stage, stay out as long as you need to rather than attempt to 'act' how you're 'supposed' to feel.  Remember that the emotion goes in waves... we become desperate to come in when emotion is at it's peak, only to come onstage when it's ebbed.  Stay with it and, if necessary, come in when the feeling has got away from you rather when you think you're really feeling it - professionals can't always be dependent on emotional opportunism after all!

The third stage monologue is effectively a form of emotional preparation.  You discover the incident in your imagination moment-to-moment by talking yourself through it.  Eventually you will find that there is one specific detail that puts you straight into the emotion.  Make it a doing (sticking to the facts, really visualising what your descibing) rather than a 'feeling' thing.

Emotional Preparation:

Remember you are coming from the event that has effected you rather than it being onstage (Simon's note after I kick one of the studio walls in during an exercise.... oh dear).

For scenarios, go with the unexpected rather than the typical, eg. "What would x never do?  They've done it".

The next step: from the emotional prepartion, come in and then do whatever the next logical step would be.

The work ethic: be patient and put your faith in what you're doing rather than standing outside of events and questioning them, as that will only take you out of the 'doing'.

For emotional preparation, take your time outside.  If you need 15, 30, 45 minutes in order to be properly full of something, take it!  These are the first stages of getting over the fear of not being emotionally 'full' enough.

Imagine talking out the situation with another person.  Picture their reactions so you're not preoccupied with your own state.  This is a different way of working the imaginative muscles.  This is the beginning of a long road which will ultimately lead an actor to possessing emotional triggers.

Nine and a half times out of ten, the circumstances of the character you are playing won't matter to you.  You need to be imaginatively emotionally reactive, because you are the character. 

When a preparation works, it won't leave you alone, but tends to come back in waves.  That's why it's a good idea to come in on the emotional downswing.

You must keep addressing the work, because this course is going to throw more and more stuff at you.  Avoid amassing a backlog of exercises you need to get through.

Stay out there!!!!!!!

Meisner's emotional analogy:  the text is a canoe, the river is your emotion.  The river needs to be flowing first, and carries the canoe along with it.

Never push: as soon as you try and push anything, whether that be your emotions, your voice - things stop working.  These exercises are about setting up enough preparation to let you act, not forcing it out of you.

Have your list of emotional preparations and always start with the hardest first.

Think of potential preparations for characters when reading plays.  Don't fall into choosing 'the obvious' way in which your character might come in.

Notes on my 3rd stage monologue: Simon removed chair from the space because I was tempted to use it as a physical crutch.   Again, remember to go detail by detail - always ask and what next? 

Emotional preparation: run through it purely imagistically.  Stay out lomger was a note for the entire class.  If your preparation gets side-lined with being pissed off at people coming in and out, it's valid to bring that to the stage at this point.  Whatever - but keep talking yourse;f into the situation.

We get into the habit of keeping the lid on our emotions in real lofe - remember this is your opportunity to take it off.  If you're struggling for inspiration - what keeps you awake at night

Remember - it's alll about personnal triggers,,,take in every little thing that pisses you off if you're preparing to ne angry.

3rd Stage Monologues:

Don't stoke yourself up - it does what it does to you. 

Jon did his monologue but is only fleetingly affected by it.  Simon hits on the details: he made a 'escape clause' by placing himself at one remove to all the action (other people witnessed certain events).

We are seeking the specific that will put you 'completely in' the situation.   It will only work if you're present throughout the story.  If you can put yourself into your own work, it's a stepping stone towards putting yourself into somebody elses play.

This process is one of elimination: we find out what doesn't work so we don't repeat the same mistakes rather than trying to get it 'right' first-time. When you hit the 'right' thing, the effect will be effortless.

Beware of giving yourself false endings - it ends when it ends... don't hang the story out to dry.

The same mindset applies to Emotional Preparation (EP): we learn by failure.  We keep going and eliminating what doesn't work bit by bit.  Be prepared to sit in the confusion and the failure.

Exercises:

Don't 'puff away' your emotion - stick to your partner.  Answer your partner directly rather than trying to 'reason the why'

Ignoring your partner will always lead to self-involved behaviour.

Keep at your partner until they have got the message.

Personnal

Specific

Detailed

There will always be the battle between a person alone with their thing vs. an actor 'acting' at us.  It's no mystery which one we're aiming for.

During emotional preparation, if your imagination resists what you're trying to do, don't flog a dead horse.  Appreciate where you are NOW.  Ask, "what would make me feel x" in your current circumstances.

Never 'push' for a result.

Prepare out of earshot of your partner.

3rd Stage Monologue:

Jon's monologue again sees him distance himself from events just when it gets most uncomfortable - ie. the moment of death.  Always put yourself into the situation.  Keep asking what happens next, and next, and next etc.

Sarah's monologue - if you set it up right, the emotion part of it will take care of itself.  We're aiming for effortlessness remember!  If you are aiming for a 'result'. that way danger lies.

If you're struggling, change the person you're talking to and see what hppens. 

The ellusive 'specific' is what makes you immediately present in the situation you're describing.

Exercises:

You can afford to use silence to kick-start the next moment - acting isn't talking.

If you feel overwhelmed by emotion (I wish), don't me mugged by it - the focus must always be on your partner.  Your atention must always be outwardly directed.

Keep hold of your point of view.  If somebody keeps throwing back "You're pissing me off" deadpan, hit the with "You're pissing me off because..." - you can qualify your observations.

3rd Stage Monologue:

Jon's monologue goes from funny to tragic.  But as Simon stresses, a little more detail in the right places will make it real - it's still a bit too foggy right now.  It's a journey between Jon and his dad from events A-Z, but be concise as possible.  Ask: what were they wearing / how did they look / how did they feel to touch.

Jon:  But aren't they non-essential?

Simon:  Where's the specific?  Seeing your dad on a machine with a drip.  If you go deeper with that, more into the detail - that's when you'll get a reaction.  Stay with your father ALL the way through the process, and never divert.

Jane and Sarah both do their monologues, to mixed effect.

Simon:  Go into the key moment, the moment you could live or die.  Even when you 'get it', challenge yourself further.

Exercises:

Always call the behavioural rather than the mundane (eg. "you put your pen down").  Again, it's a way of dispersing rather than building dramatic conflict.

Recommendation:  see James Cagney in White Heat.

Always be personnal, NEVER be casual.  You can never be too personnal.

Remember that we (the audience) are affected if you're affected - we've witnessed that in the monologues.  That doesn't mean being emotive, but having a root in emotional truth is crucial.

In life, all the time, we fight to keep things conventional.  'Down here' [in the Actors Temple], you have to stop being the gentleman.

Many schools 'force' students to have breakthroughs, whether they feel them or not.  Quite often you end up in thrall to a particular tutor as a result.  This training is about making you an independent, self-supporting artist.

Remember: 'Objective' acting often leads to self-concerned acting.  You will only be concerned with how much/little you've managed to fulfill your brief rather than being truely open to the person opposite you.

For activities:  It needs to be ALL YOUR PROBLEM.  There have to be very big stakes involved, whether you're successful or not/ 

3rd Stage Monologue:

Jon's monologue worked!   Still could be fuller though.  You;ve got to go into the unimaginable. 

Exercises:

The event must have just happened to you.

Sarah's temptation to apologise to her scene partner: "I have to do this now".  Don't apologise, JUST DO IT.

Remember that once you enter the room, all bets are off.

AS AN EXTRA: Tell yourself something private about the other person.  Something that fundamentally changes your attitude towards them.

3rd Stage Monologue:

Jane - still don't see the girl that you're describing. How did she look before and after?  The image of your niece is stilll a bit too generalised and hazy.

Really worried about feeling nothing?  DON'T.  Remember you're working on an exercise.

Exercises:

Speak like "you're confrontational" is generalised, analyst speak.  Always take it personally.  Never be casual.

During repetition, when you're asked a question, ANSWER IT.

A scene is a collision of two points of view - that's what creates dialogue.

Scene Relationships:  Vary them... use the relationship to suggest what you want.

FAITH IN ACTING: The fear that what you've got isn't enough.   You have to accept that what's happening is happening.  If you're working for a result, you're already dead in the water.  At this stage, simply accept that "what I've prepared is enough" - from that, just work of the other person.

Chris & Jon:

Don't back off.

Keep looking to your partner rather than trying to 'manufacture' a solution.

Remember that listening and asking is what acting is.  Pushing can get in the way of connecting.  Attempting to illict a response or calm down the situation is wasted energy.

Always surrender rather than resist your partner, regardless of what they come up with.

Always feedback what the other person is doing to you personally.  It's your job to produce behaviour in the other actor - make your job all about the other person.

Jane & Sarah:

Really persue the 'twist' you've made about the other person - persue it to the LOGICAL EXTREME, ie. Jane wants to get me out = thrown me out today = no notice given = replacing me with her boyfriend = who is already here = asked for one month's rent to cover deposit = threat to keep £400 of my stuff if you don't pay.

The next stage (in embrio): "I know something, so I want something".  Ie.  I've given you keys for my car so you could make a conference, you spoent the weekend sleeping with my girlfirend, so I want the keys to my car motherf**ker"!

Jo & Kali

Both Jo and Kali come emotionally free to this exercise.

Deal with what's  happening rather than what you want to happen.

Don't talk over each other - listening is key.

Don't ignore behaviour.

Stay out longer until your preparation eats you up inside.

Again, further the twist; she lied about having cancer / you gave her money for treatment / money that was put aside for a film / opportunity just come up requiring 3 minute short / she's destroyed any chance of you beinbg able to make it.

Your activity must scream "do me, do me, do me, do me".

The 'twist' is SEPARATE from preparation.  The twist is private.  Only relationship and location is shared.

Nobody here [at the Actors Temple] wants you to be fighting for one practitioner or system of training.  We're not interested in producing 'Mesiner' or even 'Actors Temple' actors... your process is ultimately your own.

Missed due to job interview.

3rd Stage Monologue:

Ask - what do you want from the person you're speaking to?  The basics of WHAT and WHY.  Remember that you're speakign for a reason, you want to provoke a particular reaction from the other person (be it forgiveness, understanding, celebration etc).  This will give you flexibility, possibly even allowing you to use the same 'theoretical situation' for different EP's.

Keep breaking it down - like life, we need to work our way through the bullshit.

Keep varying your EP's rather than concentrating on one.   This will start to encourage a flexibility that you will need as an actor.

The key is the SET-UP.  If you set up a sitution that really provokes you, then everything else will take care of itself.

Repetition - Next Stage

Tell your partner three things about yourself.  Two are details, one is a specific.  Add a twist to your attitude towards your partner.  For example: "I know you have child pornography on your hard-drive" or "You've just recommended me for a job I couldn't have got otherwise".  Such a twist will necessarily change your attitude towards the partner; they are either the greatest or worst person you could encounter.  Still be detailed. 

Avoid huffing - it's an expulsion of your real instincts rather than an action upon them.

DROP WHAT YOU'RE HOLDING ONTO.  It's usually your 'objective' or the defensive suit of armour you've prepared to make sure the scene doesn't go out of control.  We want 'out of control'... that's where the drama is, it's what people pay to see.  Just let your partner in.

Improvisation - The Next Stage

All members of the group will direct each other.  The job of the director is to specify precircumstances, activities (and/or) emotional states.  If anything you as an actor are given doesn't make sense, or there are blank spots, fill them in yourself because you're free to invent.  Don't give the scene partners the whole story, but what they need to know for their roles.

The beginning of Personalisation:

The three details your partner gives you comprises of two details and one specific.  But It's up to you, unaware of which one is most important to them, to personalise one of these so you have an attitude drawn from their details.

The person in the room possesses the twist, the person coming after has a need relating to their partner.

This will develop to the stage where you both exchange three pieces of information each and personalise whatever you wish. 

Remember we are interested in the internal rather than external changes.  Playing against the text can so oftenfreshen things up... a Macbeth who enters the final act thinking "I still have a chance of winning" rather than playing the 'tragedy' of the play.  If you simply play mood, you miss the whole point.

Repetition:

Just stay with it, stay with it, STAY WITH IT.  Wait for gut level conatct to be made.  At a certain point you will find it necessary to say what the repetition is doing to you, but never contrive.

Working on 'the twist' - like EP's and the 3rd stage monologue, NEVER BE GENERAL.  Your twist must always provoke you in some way, so keep going further and further.  'What happened next, and next, and next?' etc.  You must follow it through to its wonderful/awful conclusion.

As soon as you drop what you've been holding on to, it wil be in you anyway.  Come out with what you're thinking if you're stuck in your head.

Always back into rather tahn away from your partner.

Leave the "don't do thats" in repetitions: it's an alternative way of censuring a partner's behaviour.

Aim for less 'altruistic' activities - what you're doing should place you right in the centre of the action andthe stakes involved.

Improvisation:

Where you've come from doesn't necessarily relate directlyto what you've come to do.

Remember: never EP for a twist, because it's designed only for that first moment.  Afterwards, you leave it alone - whatever will be, will be.

When directing, distill your notes to one note each.

As directors, try and create situations where both participants want something from the other.

Remember: if it's not in the information/direction you've been given and really can't be concluded from the script, INVENT.

The three reasons:

These are designed to make your partner's behaviour more immediate to you.... the beginning of 'personalisation' (more of which, next term).  Two are details; one is the specific.  One must relate to the twist you introduce to your relationship.

The person in the room has a twist; the person coming to the door can have a need relating specifically to the partner.

When dealing with twists, remember that in real life, what you know you show behaviourally.

What we are working towards is a CLASH OF P.O.V's.

As a further extension of the exercise, both partners could have an activity, three pieces of information, a twist and a need.

Exercise notes:

Only let the story come out organically through contact with your partner - don't contrive your attitude or preparation so you make it just about the information... we want to avoid 'what's my objective' being the sole drive of your interaction.

Wait for gut level contact - wait - and at a certain point what your partner is doing to you musts be picked up.

Like the EP's, you can go deeper and deeper into your twist or need to make them more provoking to you.  Avoid being vague... prioritise the specific and always follow it through to it's wonderful/terrible conclusion.

Remember you can have a want from a twist, this makes you active rather than simply sitting back and adopting an 'attitude'.

DROP WHAT YOU'VE PREPARED AND WHATEVER IT IS WILL BE IN YOU ANYWAY.... IF IT'S COMPELLING ENOUGH.

Always back into rather than away from your partner.

Leave the phrase 'don't' out of your repeating - it's just another way of censoring your partner.  What we want is the opposite.  Similarly, don't be altruistic towards your partner: you live off them but aren't there to 'help them get x or y result".

Self-directed scenes:

In this, members of the group create scenarios (with activities, possible twists, information and emotional states) for two members of the group.  The writer/director of the scene chooses (1) when to finish the exercise, and (2) what note to give each person after the exercise is finished.  The notes must always be related to behaviour they want to see rather than dealing in 'Mesiner speak.  They must also always be phrased so that you want "more" rather than less of something.... the partners can identify what to change in the exercise to get the desired effect.  The actors must not change anything unless otherwise asked.

If the scenario provided by the director is not compelling enough for the actor, change it.  MAKE IT MATTER TO YOU.

These scenes are fundamentally about what you WANT rather than how you feel.

How to learn a script (for next term's scenes):

1) Write out you part as a monologue, ignoring the other person's lines.  Ignore most punctuation except '?' or '.' so it is just a block of words.  Delete any 'author indications' of how you are supposed to do the lines, ie. 'aggitatedly', 'in tears' etc.

2) Learn it in a monotone rather than trying to 'act intentions'.  Run them mechanically.

3) Ensure that you can do it really fast (think the voices in Samuel Beckett's Play)

4) Once you are confident with the lines, run your monologue and get your partner to interject according to the scene as written.

5) If you have any lines that tail off, ie. "Why I outta...", make sure you script and learn the end of the thought.

The reasons for the above are simple: it avoids you falling into a 'certain way' of speaking the lines, of waiting for your partner to speak when in life you might not.  Speech in real life is an interrupted monologue - you never know when the other person is going to interject.  You must avoid falling into any kind of pattern with the words so that changes come purely 'in the moment'.  When learning, it is your partner's responsibility to pick up on any indications or patterns that you might fall into.  Them simply reverse the process.

Exercises (for self-directed scenes):

Always avoid trying to do two things at once (ie. activity and partner).  You have to make a choice every moment.

The key question to ask as an actor is "how do you want me to behave?".  No Meisner talk - "change your twist" or whatever - because 99% of people you work with professionally won't understand it.  You have to try and work with your director as much as possible.

Always, what's HERE and NOW is more important than any ideas floating in your head about what 'should' happen.

Never try and 'sell' an emotional state if it's not there - much better to just come on and live truthfully through the doing.  Audiences, as living human beings, have inbuilt bullshit meters and they know when they're not getting the real deal.  Stepping into and embracing the terror of being empty is better than pretending and demonstrating.

With the EP's, always be sensitive of WHERE YOU ARE TODAY.  Utilise and personalise your own given circumstances rather than trying to impose something that won't work.

Simon observed that he was seeing a lot of restraining going on in class.... you must get down to business.

Remember: 1) the knock, 2) opening of door, 3) observation of knock - hit your partner with a statement, leaving no time to go into your head.

3rd Stage Monologue:

Beware the 'little fucker' telling yourself you can' do it - work through the images and keep things detailed.  Don't rehearse it, but learn it mechanically (like the scenes for next term).

Exercises:

You're aim is to incite behaviour from the other person - pure and simple.  Always think of active and engaging things towards your partner, even when you 'should' be repulsed by them.

The energy required is that of a clockwork toy: you wind it up and then let it go.

For next term - during exercises, bring an activity that cuts against where you've come from, ie.  if you come in upset, begin an activity that that makes you happy.

Don't fall into the old habits of 'showing', 'selling' or 'demonstrating' to try and paper over a lack of emotion.  You really have to be where you are.  Attempting to 'work yourself up' into a particular emotional state isn't helpful.

Keep sticking and holding your partner if they try and diffuse a situation.

If the 'want' your character has been given doesn't work for you, don't use it.  Personalise that want, otherwise you'll go in pretending, 'playing a character' at one remove to yourself. Work back from a intellectual understanding of a scene to a personalised one.  Your work must be fuelled by a personal connection.

A lot of notes are necessary reiterations of golden rules: don't take anything casually; keep your attention purely on your partner; stay with moments until something makes you change rather than flitting from one thing to another.

A hard heart never reaches Nirvana.... any nugget of resistance you have must be allowed to melt.  The truth of yourself IS the rock of your acting.

Simon's rallying call: In your training, you either go backwards or forwards.  Practise EP's and line-learning.  Do repetition through EP's when possible.  Always, you vote with your feet - you're either here or you're not.

End of term report:

Chris - don't try to be helpful or interesting.  Try to attempt EP's on a daily basis - doing it at the same time each day usually helps.  Don't rely on the 'voice beautiful', pushing or attempts at being helpful.

Exercises:

Every time your partner withdraws, do something to get them back.

Any state can be prepared for actively and emotionally eg. empty = drained.... blow your stack OUTSIDE and then come in.

Never assume that any of the work we do is 'merely' an acting exercise.  If you start regarding the work at one remove, it will become a habit.  An actor lives and breaths their craft... it should become a process towards release rather than a restrictive exercise.