Robin Walsh/Acting

EMOTIONAL OPENNESS AND ACTING

Please remember that acting is not about what you feel onstage or trying to force yourself
to feel something. This is unnatural and will probably cost you the audiences sympathy
who feels sorry for someone trying to cry? Mostly its annoying.

Dont tell the audience how they should feel either. Simply allow them to respond
know what I mean? That sense in your acting of isnt this sad, arent I sad, dont you
feel sorry for me, arent I inspiring? Let yourself focus on being in the circumstances,
not commenting on them. Genuinely focus on getting/changing something. Let the
audience decide whats sad. If you tell them what they feel, youll cut them out of the
process, robbing them and yourself of lots of energy and effectiveness.

Dont tell yourself how you should feel either, whether onstage or off. You may make
some surprising discoveries.

Acting is about affecting your audience intellectually, viscerally, emotionally or some

combination, most often through trying to genuinely affect your acting partner or the
situation youre in. Football is the simplest exampleaudiences go wild because there is
a clear goal and a genuine sustained effort to achieve it through changing tactics. Know
your goal and make a real not pretend effort. Forget that you know the ending or the
response alreadyget what you want.

HAVE A SUPER-OBJECTIVE. Is it really hard for you to find? Me, too. Try random
ones for different rehearsals. Youll be amazed at how it changes things. Dont forget to
explore the opposite of what seems obvious. For example, giving a depressed character
the genuine super objective of creating joy will be much more compelling than trying to
find understanding or getting someone to leave you alone or showing us all how sad
and hopeless you are. Please notice how active the first choice is. It takes the emotion
out of you and puts it into or through the action/other person and consequently the
audience. This is good. If your character is dying, try for a super-objective of living in
super-aliveness or creating astounding hope, etc. Whether or not you are able to achieve
it, it will be compelling as long as it is genuine action, not showing or faking it.

Being aware of (and I mean aware on every level, not merely intellectually, which is by
its very nature limited to speed and shallownessotherwise it would take forever to add
2 and 2so tell your ego to back offthis may take some time) the full range of human
emotions and some of the actions/reactions they result in increases our ability to analyze
scripts and believably play characters. While feeling on stage is not the point, it is hard
to find a compelling actor who is cut off from, or unaware of, their own emotions on a
visceral level. This openness makes a HUGE difference in understanding what it would
be like to be in the circumstances and can lead to highly original, honest and luminous
work. It adds texture, depth, spontaneity...

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1. Before going to sleep each night, and without judgment, make a private list of all
the things you felt that day, i.e.: irritation waiting for a ride, anxiety at the
elevator, dismay over homework, intrigue over an overheard comment,
excitement during a conversation, slight unease in the transition between classes,
self-doubt walking to an engagement, anticipation for an evening out, comfort
talking with a friend, pride after completing class work, enjoyment of a meal, etc.
Were you conscious in the moment of experiencing these things, or is the
awareness in retrospect? How did or didnt you express any of these things?

2. At the end of the week, read through your private notes and observe impartially:
a. What judgments do you currently have about feelings: do you consider
some bad and some good?
b. Are there feelings which arise during the day which you dont really take
the time to experience or listen to?
c. How do you respond to other peoples feelings?
d. How might your judgments about feelings affect your acting?

3. Experiment with expressing some feelings without words, with huge movements
and primitive sounds. Sometimes this becomes very silly and sometimes
profoundly moving, and sometimes its just plain dumb. Any of these is okay.
Listen to and respect your instincts about any feelings which might be
overwhelming or counterproductive to explore. Remember, this is for use as an
actor. For any overwhelming feelings, please consider seeing a counselor in PAS
on the 7th floor LH. Please do not attempt to explore these things in class or use
them in your work until they are less volatile.

4. When you are in an emotionally intense situation onstage, remember to breathe.

Allowing your breath to be slightly visible in your ribs and upper chest (without
tension) can help maintain body connection and grounded-ness. If you feel the
scene getting away from youor in general, before you even open your mouth
dump out all your air and take a slow, deep breath.

5. When you are in an emotionally intense situation onstage, remember to let the
voice float. Controlling the voice covers what we are feelingas does talking too
loudly, or at all the same volume, or too much, or too quickly, or too quietly.
Support, fill the space and let it float. Breathiness fogs or dilutes your thoughts
and feelings. Give yourself permission to be clear and honest. Let your voice just
float on tone wherever it wants to gosometimes much higher, sometimes lower.
Allow feelings to come out, without even having to know what they might end up
being. Make sure your jaw stays loose and your breathing stays deepthe breath
must go through the open body and throat, plus a released jaw/tongue/mouth in
order to pick up nuances of feeling and thought. The trick here is the preparation
of your instrument (releasing all tension and intellectual control!) and getting out
of your own way (sometimes therapy helps!) And remember, you cannot be
illuminating, if you have nothing in particular to express: vague notions or
general feelings will never be anything but vague and general. Slick, shallow,

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 ego-driven performances will be slick, shallow and egotistic. Brilliant
illumination requires preparation, insight and courage.

6. If you start to tense up physically or bend forward at the waist, bend your knees
for emphasis or make a strong movecome up with a physical action or activity
to focus the energy through. Make sure your elbows are not glued to your ribs.
Try to cultivate the sensation that someone could walk over and pick up any of
your limbs and move them easilythis means you arent stuck, that your
channels of energy are open enough to respond, as opposed to being in lock-
down.

7. Intensity is just another word for resistance. Let the energy flow. It may or may
not get intense. If it does become intense, keep breathing, releasing, taking
action, changing tactics and letting it go or changedont get stuck. Trust
becomes very important hereif you manage it, you will astound yourself with
how interesting things can get when you relinquish intellectual control or the path
you are on (and this doesnt mean you didnt do a whole lot of intellectual prep
work!) Remember, dont get stuck in preconceived notions of how you are
supposed to feel or behave.

8. When you have trouble connecting emotionally or putting yourself in the

circumstances, consider paying homage to/speaking up for someone else. Very
strange phenomenon. For example, you may have a hard time sticking up for
yourself, but if you imagine youre rescuing someone whos very vulnerable and
shy, who desperately needs and deserves a championan abandoned child, an
abused puppy, someone recently in the news: whatever compels youyou may
turn into a tiger. Think of ways to use this to help yourself raise the stakes or feel
compelled in a scene to get what you want or to make a point. Make it personal
in some way. Who or what moves you? Do this as a way of honoring that person.

9. Make it about the other person on stage, as well. Focus on your partners eyes,
their pupils, or your total body awareness of them. Work on getting a genuine
reaction from the actor (not some mythical character, but the real breathing,
feeling human being standing on stage with you,) regardless of what it says in the
script they have to do, or any canned response they may have developed. Make
it their fault if you dont get what you want, and take it out on them. Allow
yourself to revel when you do get what you want. Whenever things get static,
direct your feelings/thoughts/needs through the other actornot inwards.
Inward-focus happens sometimes, but too much for too long is self-indulgent and
stops the play of energy between actors.

10. Remember, its not compelling to watch someone who is trying to be unhappy
although, this can be funny.

These tools are to help you put yourself in the circumstances, to keep you open to
expressing emotion onstage as it naturally arises, and to make your work more

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compelling and original. Remember, sometimes the simplest, quietest response is more
effective than emotional fireworks. If you really understand and relate to the situation
and have prepared your instrument, whatever is expressed will be appropriate, and will
also be different the next time.

Most of us tend to be removed from (or critical of) some of our emotions, making it
extremely difficult to feel connected to our characters/situationsand sometimes other
actors. We have to get to know all our messy human emotionsand ourselvesbefore
we can effectively do our work.