A solo exercise to centre yourself
Whether or not you’ve attended our Acting Skills for Business People Course, you can do this exercise on your own to help you centre yourself.
EQUIPMENT
Put a piece of tape on the floor - you don’t need to set up a camera or lectern for this, just the piece of tape on the floor.
The piece of tape on the floor is your “mark”
EXERCISE
There’s an old saying that goes…
The secret of good acting is to remember your lines and not bump into the furniture
It’s such an important idea that it’s attributed to many people, including the Playwright and Actor Noel Coward and also to the movie star Spencer Tracy.
Whilst there is definitely more to it than that…this quote holds a lot of truth.
And we’ll use it to help you get started.
TAKE ONE
Walk to your mark - look at the audience and say the line “Welcome Everybody”
Then add another line…”I want to share this with you now”
Repeat this action a good couple of times. Start to break this “scene” down a little by looking at three moments…
- Walking to your “mark”
- Hitting your “mark”
- Speaking
Then take a moment to reflect. I want you to think about the previous exercise, Force, Fidget, Freeze, so that you’re aware of whether you’re…
- Overly aggressive (i’m gonna show ‘em)
- Off Centre (fidget, I can’t do this, I don’t deserve to be here)
- Freeze (if i stay still for long enough, this will soon be over)
Avoid over thinking here…simply know that you can help yourself achieve a natural position of rest. Know that rehearsal is worthwhile. Know that practise will help you in the heat of battle, when you most need it.
TAKE TWO
This time, walk to your mark and….I want you to take as long as it takes for your what why and how to kick in. Then speak the following line;
I want to share this with you now
I ask you to do this, so that you start to key in to your sense of purpose, rather than any other negative block between you, your message and your audience.
When I do this exercise…allowing myself the time to move to where I need to (my mark) and wait until I really feel the impulse to speak, I find that I realise I have a brain, I have choices I can make, I can create time and space to make my decisions. I am not at the mercy of some imaginary sabre toothed tiger. I also realise more clearly, that this action, my performance, is about my message and my connection to the audience, not my worries, fears and ego.
I have always found this awareness wonderfully reassuring and I believe it can lead to great things in performance.
LEARNING POINT
Understand that what you have to say, and what it might mean to the audience, is much more important than you and how you’re feeling.
REVIEW
Start to reflect on the difference between focusing on you and your concerns, and focusing on your purpose.
Track back through those moments where you walked to your mark, hit it and started speaking.
What is your natural response in these moments?
Force | Fidget or Freeze?
How can you adjust, based on what you’re learning here?
Helen Mirren talks about this point in her Masterclass series - you can see it in the trailer - she walks across stage, sits down and says
I just did what i consider to be one of the most difficult things to do in my profession of acting, which is…to walk…as yourself
Tom Hardy (and other actors) describe performance as “serving up a dish” - you’ve made it with love and now you’re giving it to be consumed however people want to.
You can’t cater to everybody’s taste…but you can do things you’re happy with, reasonably content with, happy enough to send it out there into the ether, for other people to digest.
Later in this course we will look at some breathing and physical techniques to help centre yourself, anchor yourself so you can deal with negative thoughts and impulses….which is your brain messin’ withcha.
Check out the next the next couple of Vlogs if you fancy - one is about a time someone tried to intimidate me in a board room, the other is a story of the second biggest movie that I worked on - and then the exercise after that is called This one’s for you mate.
See you shortly.