Ooh - another thought just struck me (randomly!): One of the exercises I do with novice actors is to put them on stage and tell them: "You stand there. Do nothing. We'll watch you." And keep repeating that over the course of 2-3 minutes or so. Then I give them a simple, meaningless task - counting the seats in the auditorium, or the ceiling tiles, for instance - and coach them to do that as if it were the most important thing in the universe - while we watch them.
The change in everything from body posture to facial expression is remarkable. They go from squirmy discomfort and blank stares in the first exercise to being physically relaxed and facially animated in the second. When I ask them "what was different?" they invariably respond, "I had something to do." Which is a key to acting, but also to all kinds of other psycho-emotional states.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-02-28 06:24 pm (UTC)The change in everything from body posture to facial expression is remarkable. They go from squirmy discomfort and blank stares in the first exercise to being physically relaxed and facially animated in the second. When I ask them "what was different?" they invariably respond, "I had something to do." Which is a key to acting, but also to all kinds of other psycho-emotional states.