The Eyes Have It

The Words of Wisdom this week are The Eyes Have It. It's about body language, which means communication without words, or sounds, through posture, movement, particularly head movement, and gaze, where we look and for how long and the character of our looking, revealed by tiny changes in our eyes and the tissues around them. This non-verbal communication is very powerful and originates much further back in our evolution than spoken language. The language of our eyes is close to that of the gorilla or the orangutan. Even if you make a pet of a much more distant cousin, a cat or a dog, you will find that when you greet it you look at its eyes and it will look at yours.

Most of the time we are unconscious of what we are signalling with our eyes, but we can become aware of it and of the way it arises from our inner feelings. Hence, when acting, we can raise the emotional temperature by intensifying what we are doing with our eyes.

Just studying how long people look at each other tells us a lot about their emotional state. People who find it difficult to meet other people's gaze will appear shifty, while two people gazing long at each other presages either aggression or sexual attraction - the mouth will tell you which.

Here's an interesting exercise to try when you're walking along a busy street. Clock the eyes of everyone walking towards you, for just one second. Then tell yourself what their eyes tell you about their personality and emotional state. You will find that you can always find something, sometimes difficult to put into words, but always something about the way they are feeling and the kind of person they are.

The Eyes Have It.

Voice; body; mind.

Words of Wisdom

Work on your voice - every day
Work on your body - every day
Work on your mind - every day

If you are serious about being an actor, that is what you have to do, so you have to make these things part of your regular, daily timetable.

Working on your voice includes deep breathing exercises, exercises to open your throat, so that your voice isn't trapped there, exercises exploring your full range of pitch, practising projection and sharpening your articulation and diction. It's important to do this regularly, not just occasionally.

Working on your body includes stretching, core body exercises, cardiovascular work, such as running, aerobics or swimming - that is absolutely central to your fitness - strength training using weights and something involving agility, such as dance or martial arts. Make progress by gradual increments: that way you improve but are less likely to suffer injury.

Working on your mind includes plenty of reading, fact, fiction, biography, history, doing a mindstretching puzzle, meditating, writing a diary or setting down some other thoughts. planning for the future. Focus on one thing at a time, analyse it and then integrate it into the whole.

I am a great believer that education should not end at the end of school or college: make self improvement a lifelong aim. Develop your capabilities and maintain them.

Work on your voice - every day
Work on your body - every day
Work on your mind - every day