What do you do when you feel completely bored by what you have to teach?
If I feel uninspired by something that I kinda have to muster some enthusiasm about, I turn to an old acting trick…
Make it true for you
One of my acting teachers Miranda Harcourt taught us this idea at drama school. If there’s a bit of dialogue, circumstance or situation you’re struggling to bring to life or connect to , she suggests you ‘make it true for you’.
For example, you have the line “My cousin used to play in the back garden”. You could just say the line, but if you don’t feel a connection to it or a little spark of life, neither will the audience.
Miranda had us ‘fill out’ the picture in our head. She’d ask things like ‘what was your back garden like when you were a kid? Can you picture it? Which of your cousins are you talking about? What kinds of clothes do they wear?’
Once you’ve spent some imaginary time with this real person and place, say the line again, inviting those images in as you say them. It’s true for you now and that added depth will be read by the audience. Not consciously maybe, but there is a micro-congruence going on in the actor.
The same thing happens in my brain if I’m faced with learning material that isn’t immediately lighting my world on fire. I ask some ‘make it true for you’ questions:
What have I experienced in my life that this reminds me of?
What is a silly metaphor that helps me understand this?
What is something I am so excited about right now and what are three ways I can connect this to that?
I particularly like the third question because I’m pretty obsessive and week to week there will be something that I’m absolutely taken with- a new actor or film, some gadget or thing I’m learning about. If I can connect it some how to my current obsession I’m home free.
Not everything will inspire us, but we always have the ability to bring ourselves to life.
