Commit to the bit
I’m journaling nightly after each performance of Cabaret and one thing has occurred to me- though it should be obvious.
You must commit. To the action, to the line, to what your character is after. Commit.
The thing that stops this commitment is actually self doubt. And if self doubt stops commitment then it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.
Commit to the bit and when you feel like it won’t work- commit harder and don’t look back.
Acting is a tapestry
It’s fun being in season for a theatre show and one of the best parts is getting to see my fellow actors night after night.
I noticed my co-star wiping some dirt off a chair while no one was looking- it was her character trying to make sure her house was presentable.
It was a tiny moment; one of those blink and you’ll miss it ones.
They say that God is in the detail, and this is a great example.
Acting is a tapestry. The end product is a beautiful blanket.
But you don’t make the blanket all in one moment; you build it thread by thread.
The discipline, then, is the presence and specificity to make those micro choices moment to moment.
That’s what leads to a beautiful ‘whole’.
Doing leads to being
You can’t suddenly ‘be’ a thing, but you can always ‘do’ a thing.
All of acting is predicated on this.
Action reveals character.
If we are what we repeatedly do, then we get to choose who we are based on what we do.
Who do you want to be?
And what would that person have to do on a consistent basis?
Complacency vs. Enjoyment
They say you shouldn’t rest on your laurels.
But they also say you should stop and smell the roses.
I think it’s important to enjoy the fruits of your labour.
The key of course is the balance of these and recognising the moment to work and the moment to enjoy.
Superstitions vs. Routines
Routines are the sequence of events that lead us to achieve something in a predictable way.
Like a pre-work out stretch or a vocal warm up before a show.
A superstition is something we mistake for a routine.
“I wore these songs last time and it went really well… I’ll wear them again”
It can be difficult to see the difference.
The pictures you make
There are certain things I think about that completely change the way I feel.
In an instant I can feel hopeful, excited or happy.
Or I can feel tense, anxious or even depressed.
Actors literally use this as part of their work; hijacking a natural occurrence in humans.
We might as well picture the things that make us feel happy, motivated and excited right…?!
A time to take action and a time to rest
It seems a lot of your 30s is knowing the difference and getting the balance right.
How do you know?
Acting is what you ‘do’
I remember cracking up laughing looking over my mates shoulder in drama school. It looked like he had made some profound acting discovery and he was furiously underlying it.
I looked over and saw written in big bold letters in his notebook:
ACTING IS WHAT WE DO.
At the time, it cracked me up and I still laugh about it now…
But the thing is, it kind of is amazingly true in a profoundly simple kind of way.
All we do as actors is ‘do’ our actions. We do things in the world in the hope we will get our outcome.
Acting is what we do.
And any time I find myself doing anything other than that, it’s back to basics.
DO something!
As if it’s your birthday
Remember when you were young and you used to count down the days until Christmas and your birthday?
Remember that feeling? It’s my birthday soon and I’ve been trying to recreate this sense of giddy excitement in anticipation.
It seems to be very possible just to create this feeling if you’re willing to…
How would your life change is you felt like that on a regualt basis?
Tasks need somewhere to go
And it needs to be in one place.
Each time you think of something you need to do, put it in one note on your phone so you know for certain it’s been captured. Then you can come back to it later.
Trying to remember or synthesize multiple locations will leak brain power without you knowing.