Recently I have worked with a few new people... and in doing so I have had to think about how I work so that these new performers understand where I am coming from in the rehearsal room.
Here it it...
I work in a way that places process at the forefront of discovery. How I do this is through physical engagement with the material (the character and the space). I do not do this through an intellectual analysis of why we should or should not do something.
The reason I work this way is because... The brain has logic. The body has instinct. There is a time and place for critical analysis but it is not on the rehearsal room floor. The rehearsal room is the place where instinct is let loose. I work in a way that induces creative flow in the room.
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| Playing with chorus in Making Mandela. Pic by Sanmari Marais |
This is why we warm up - the body and the voice. This is why we do a large amount of character work - exploring how does the character sit, stand, walk, where the character's centre of gravity, when this character walks are they pushing of pulling space etc.
When I ask these questions I am not looking for an intellectual response or even an answer, but rather an instinctual physical reaction. I am offering a provocation for the actor to react to physically while they are in the stage - being the character. Then together we will slowly begin to answer these provocations in physical and instinctual ways.
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| James and Taryn as Frank and Mr Cartwright in The Snow Goose... now when we warm up their state is so present we could make entirely new shows with these characters. Pic by Philip Kuhn |
When an actor commits to this process what is termed 'state' arrives - where the actor is really inhabiting the character. To the point that when I talk to the actor while they are 'playing', the character is able to hear me, and the actor doesn't stop the creative flow to discuss my provocation. It is at this point that the actor really starts to have fun. And really, for me, that is why the audience will want to watch you. We don't want to watch your pain your angst you feelings... how hard it is to be an artist. We want you to transport us and move us.
For this process to work I cannot allow flow to be stopped for intellectual discussion. If there is something that doesn't make sense then the actor is required to let it go until after the rehearsal or during a break when intellectual discussion is appropriate.
I work in a way that the theatrical space comes first. Meaning the creation of the imagined world through how we invoke an image in them mind of the audience is paramount. This is done with set pieces, mime, an actors physical reactions, physical proposals etc - and we discover the space and images through the fearless and generous use of instinct during rehearsals.
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| Taryn and James on a boat in The Snow Goose. Pic by Philip Kuhn |
If there are space or image issues that seem confusing, and even impossible to the actor - I ask that they have the grace and humility to follow the process until it is either clear in the rehearsal, or we are at an appropriate time to ask outside of the rehearsal space if needs be. Or if the issue is something that an actor can effect within the rehearsal then the actor is asked to just do it in the flow without stopping or diverting the process to 'discuss' it. Or to prove themselves in some way. It's exhausting. Take a risk.
I work in a way that discoveries are made physically through trial and error. I cannot have actors solving problems for other actors. These are issues to be solved by the actor making their proposals and me as the director. This 'private conversation' is an important part of the process and it is not open to comments or input from other actors watching while the working actor is in the state doing his or her own work. These discoveries belong to the working actor and another actor's issues with or alternative ideas are completely irrelevant and even harmful to the process. Each actor is responsible for themselves. For the space they create. For the voice they project. For the physical body they inhabit. And my role is to identify what works and help make these more visible.
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| The day Barileng first found the character of Mandela's mother leaving Mveso and singing... when she removed her mask she was crying... she had given the space everything she had. Pic by Sanmari Marais |
I work in a way that embraces the unknown - and therefore, the fear of the unknown. It is okay that an actor doesn't know where I am going with an exercise in a given moment. It's okay for an actor not to know why it is important whether they push or pull wile they walk. It's okay if an actor doesn't know if a mime works or doesn't work. What matters is that the actor commits instinctively and makes a proposal, goes for it. That they really risk failing, often so we can make discoveries that are much deeper and more imaginative and less expected than intellectual solutions that are more obvious and not born from the work of the group. It is critical that an actor gets gets viscerally involved with what we are doing as a group. This is the only way we have the opportunity to discover something we didn't already know. Otherwise an actor might as well learn their lines, we block it and off we go. I am not that kind of director.
I know that this process can be strange and intimidating at first and that many actors are unwilling or afraid of committing to this way of working. I have seen this many times where an actor becomes defensive of their intellectualising, reluctant to get onto the floor to make physical proposals, and would rather discuss the details than do the work and take the necessary risk of being 'wrong' or at least not getting it 'right' first time. I ask that an actor take that risk in order to fully benefit from and contribute to this process. No one is going to solve the problems for the actor. Only the actor can do that... For example, how to catch a great big mimed fish in a way that the audience see the line - see the water - feel the struggle - feel the fish leap! Or how to create the hustle and bustle of a busy school yard interrupted by a teacher with only three actors.
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| A school scene from Making Mandela with Jaques, Barileng and Mli. Pic by Sanmari Marais |
And for my part, in answer to the commitment I ask of the actors I work with, I am committed to being there to react to their proposals - to help clarify their proposals, to mould the best of the proposals into a cohesive production that could only have been created by these actors committing to their own creative instincts to this particular play at this particular time. Issues of image, and space and technicalities and lighting and sound etc - these are my responsibilities, this is my role, they are not the job of the actors. Whether a mask works... What props will be real... What the set pieces look like... What music will be used... What puppetry is used to augment a moment. This is my work and I will take my own risks, and make my own proposals, and make my own mistakes and make my own commitment to the piece until I get it right. That can often even be after its third run in front of an audience.
So in conclusion, I work in a way that I go 100% with my instinct first and think later.
I ask that actors:
1. Commit to the warm up
2. Do the character exploration exercises
3. Let the other actors make their discoveries
4. Allow yourself to be swept into the unknown
5. Take risks
6. Try and forget where they've come from and be here with me.
And sometimes it doesn't work out. And then we have to go our separate ways... Hopefully we are in some small way richer for having worked together.
