Last week I shared a piece on being present in these confusing times and Adam Annand commented that it resonated with his training as an actor. Naturally, I asked if hew would say a little more about it and am delighted to welcome him as the first of what I hope will be many guest bloggers.
I was talking to a researcher the other day, like me, she has been used to working freelance so being virtual and working from a home office in many ways feels familiar. What we both agreed is different is that the days feel more repetitive given how much our worlds have shrunk at the moment, something neither of us are used to. Adam’s comments about how being present helps keep the performance fresh really resonated with me.
I also think his point that sometimes the moment we have is the not the one we expected, and we might have to adapt as a result is very pertinent. Thank you Adam, for sharing your experience.
A thought on being present
I trained as an actor and worked as an actor-teacher for many years, in theatre-in-education and schools touring. Now my work is mostly leading drama sessions with young children to support and nurture their creative instincts and communication. Being ‘present’ or being ‘in the moment’ is at the centre of both these practices.
As an actor you are presenting the same story, the same character, and the same set of relationships over and over again. You know where the plot is taking you, you know what the driving force is behind each scene, and even in the most open-ended interactive productions you know what time you are going to start and roughly what time you are going to end. You also know that each time the performance has to be fresh, has to be new. The performance needs to have the capacity for surprise, for the actors and the audience. The actors have to be present, or in the moment, otherwise the experience becomes a replica, it looks the same but feels hollow, soulless, dull.
My work with young children is influenced by this need to be in the moment, I know how long the session will be, I have a good idea of what we will do in that time, and I have an idea about how the different relationships will play out. Without consciously being present each drama session could become a model or replica of the previous one. What I am striving for is a session in which the children make real connections, develop their creative practice and are open to the joyful possibilities of working together in that moment.
In these examples the ‘being present’ or ‘being in the moment’ is both invigorating and tiring, and my training places that into units of time, being present for the duration of a play, or being present for the duration of a workshop. It has connections with the concept of ‘flow’ but it is a kind of limited ‘flow’ because as an actor or workshop leader you are also holding back a piece of yourself to maintain an overview – you don’t want to get so caught up in the moment that your character can’t get off the stage at the end of the scene, or the workshop carries on running when the lunch bell has rung and the dinner staff are setting up around you! You also need to be able to stop when a crisis hits, I watched a show recently where one of the actors banged her nose against the set, I think she was too much in ‘the moment’ and they tried to carry on whilst the audience were all squirming. A good stage manager and an audience member with medical knowledge saved the day, the show was stopped, the actor checked out and the rest of the audience went to the cafe to have a completely different ‘moment’ than the one they were expecting.
Adam Annand