I was interested on Tuesday (Jan 22nd) in the way that two different people can watch someone else and “perform” that person in a different way and yet still hit on truths of that person.
At the end of class Amy was talking about a student who had, in a previous class, gotten frustrated at the task of performing someone else and the overwhelming sense of never being able to do it “right.” I can certainly empathize with this sense of wanting to get something right and feeling a sense of impossibility in the venture.
In acting in general I can have a sense of a character in mind but no one else will know if I fall short of that ideal I’ve set for myself. (Unless you are attempting to play a familiar character – such as Hamlet. Then you are often compared to the numerous others who have attempted the role as well.) However, when we have the person we are trying to represent there – alive and available for comment - it becomes clear when we are unable to create them. And a sense of failure can easily set in!
As I was thinking about these things after class I was reminded of a friend of mine who had died several years ago. After he died I realized that a part of me had died as well – in the sense that the part of Sarah that came out around Michael and was unique to my relationship had died. Because there was a specific part of me that was a part of my life while I was with him. Just as there are different parts of me that come out with each person I meet or know. There are overlaps of who I am and certainly people may experience similarities, but there are unique qualities that we experience with each person that are only seen in that relationship.
Thus – yes – there is a frustration in representing someone else – but also a joy in bringing to others a unique and specific vision of that person that only you as the specific performer can create.
So if I approach representing people in this way than it isn’t a failure – because I am representing as closely as possible my sense of who they are – and that is exciting and an awesome privilege to present that to others. I suppose I need to look at it in this way so that I can see a hope in the process – and that the small changes and big efforts in this task are worth the frustration. That as we seek to present the truth of who someone is – that we are sharing the essence of them through the unique qualities of who we are and how we experience them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think it's all about making the attempt and effort to bridge the gap between you and the person you're performing. It is very frustrating to try to connect with these people when we may have not experienced what they have or even come close to experiencing what they are talking about. If we can find something that we have gone through or just relate in some way, then I think that gets us one step closer to presenting the truth about this person.
If we can attempt to reach their tones, pitch, and their use of certain words, or how they say these words we can only go up with these interview experiences. Body language definately plays a big role in bridging this gap.
That's the joy of being an actor I think!
Post a Comment