Study - A lot

The Words of Wisdom this week come from legendary Hollywood performer Jack Nicholson. Now, I think we’re inclined to think of Jack as a very laidback character to whom stardom came easily. This is not the case. It took him many years of hard graft to be noticed (in Easy Rider, at the age of 32.) He said recently “I went to classes for 12 years … there’s nobody successful who didn’t study a lot.” And that’s true not just about acting. So that makes our Words of Wisdom for this week: Study – A lot.

Emphasise

The Word of Wisdom this week is: emphasise. There are many ways of making a word or phrase stand out. The most obvious one is to speak it more loudly, but you can also make something stand out by saying it more quietly. You can go up in pitch, or down. You can speed up or, more likely, slow down. You can change the rhythm of your speech, or add repetition, or change your tone of voice or accent. Very effectively, you can put a little … brief pause of a fraction of a second … before a word or phrase you want to have a particular impact.

Become aware of these factors in other people’s speech and, in a subtle way, gradually work them into your own. They will enrich what you have to say.

Breathe

The Word of Wisdom this week is: breathe. (Deeply.) But to do this the right way, focus on breathing out, rather than breathing in. If you take too deep a breath in, you are restricted by your solid ribcage and your muscles tighten up, limiting your voice. But you can always breathe out more, and when you do you will find that you are more relaxed and, like magic, you will have more air to work with. So the simplest voice exercise is slow, deep breathing, emphasising the outward breath and using the diaphragm – feel your waistband loosen. You can do this while walking, standing or sitting, but best of all is lying down, hips and knees bent at 90 degrees and feet supported by a chair. Gradually you will get in the habit of breathing better and speaking more strongly without forcing your voice in your throat. What is more, you will find that this is a great way of clearing your head and relieving stress. The say that 10 minutes of deep breathing is as good as 20 minutes of sleep and I’m not going to argue with that. Breathe!

Think like a mathematician

Words of Wisdom this week are: ‘Think like a mathematician, a scientist, a pilot, a soldier, an investment banker, a statesman.’ Reason: because there are plenty of occasions when you might play the part of one of these, but few actors have much first hand experience of any of these roles. So, mix as widely as possible, observe how such people speak and behave and try to work out how they think. Watch TV programmes you wouldn’t normally watch. Acting should broaden the mind: the whole world is your subject.

And a quote from Tom Stoppard: ‘We’re actors, we’re the opposite of people.’

Hang out with winners

Words of Wisdom: I caught Ronnie Wood talking to Kay Burley this week and two things he said, with reference to Amy Winehouse and young musicians, were ‘Hang out with winners’ and ‘Keep on going.’ Winning depends on developing traits which can be adopted from successful people and it becomes a habit: so does always keeping on, keeping on becomes a habit: I agree with Ronnie 100%.

Take ownership of your dialogue

And the Words of Wisdom this week are: Take ownership of your dialogue. The words you are given were written by a writer, but they are not the writer’s words, they belong to the character you are playing. You are not delivering lines written by a stranger. You are creating a character, derived in the first instance from the words the character has been given and any description or direction, and then delivering those words as your character’s own. Adopt the vocabulary, the words and the phrasing and above all the emotions revealed to you, and deliver them as if no-one thought of them or created them until they emanated from your mind and came out through your mouth. Take ownership of your dialogue.

Create character continuously

The Words of Wisdom this week are about creativity. I am firmly of the belief that acting should be considered a creative art, rather than just interpretative. Of course, the writer is the prime creator, usually with a director acting as intermediary. But actors also create: and what they create is character. That is a convincing portrayal of a person that the audience is willing to believe in. While the audience believe in what they are seeing on the stage the play, which takes place in their minds, seems to have flesh and blood. If an actor goes out of character, or out of mood, the play collapses because no-one now believes in it. So the actors must create character continuously. It is quite impossible for a writer to give complete and detailed instructions about how a part is to be played. The words will be there is the script, but how are they to be delivered? There will be stage directions and some description, but how is the actor to stand, sit, walk, gesture, use their eyes? All this is the province of character and all these choices have to be made by the actor, not by him- or herself, because theatre is a collective activity, but working as part of a team. Create character continuously.