Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

42 Chapter 3 The Actor
Stagecraft
Basic Acting Exercises
Acting is more easily understood by doing it than by
reading about it. Even if you have never acted before, the
following four acting exercises can help you understand
what acting is, from the inside and the outside.
REACH
Stand on your right foot; reach as high as you can with
your left hand. Imagine there is something you greatly
desire above your head: a beautiful jewel, a wad of
thousand-dollar bills, or “the key to your true love’s heart.”
Now reach again, and really try to get it!
This is the simplest acting exercise there is, and it illustrates
the difference between presentational (outside)
and representational (internal) acting methods. When
you’re only asked to reach as high as you can, you will
respond by acting from the outside since you will reach
only because you were told to. This is not even acting—it’s
simply calisthenics. But when you really try to get something—even
though it is imaginary—you will be acting from
the inside because you are trying to achieve the goals of
some imaginary character. And the goals will come from
your imagination: What kind of a jewel was it? How many
thousand-dollar bills?
Reach for an imagined lover! Imagine Rapunzel in her
tower prison—or Channing Tatum in chains—or the boy or
girl you were hopelessly in love with in junior high school.
By trying to reach and rescue this idol, you will put yourself
into the role of a character and, in Stanislavsky’s phrase,
you will be able to “live the life of your character” for a few
seconds—or, in a play, for two hours and a half. If you can
commit fully to this, you will probably have stretched your
arms out farther, breathed harder, found your pulse beating
faster, and felt, when you were done, exhausted—and/
or exhilarated.
SHADOWBOX
Make two fists; then, bouncing from foot to foot, with
one fist held up to protect your chin, jab at an imaginary
opponent with the other fist, extending your arm fully
each time. As you do this, shout “BAM!” with every jab.
Continue to bounce from foot to foot, dodging your
imaginary opponent’s imaginary blows (“Rope-a-dope,”
Muhammad Ali called this). When you see an (imaginary)
opening, hit your opponent with your other fist—a potential
knockout punch known as a cross (a “right cross” if
done with your right fist).
With every cross, shout “POW!” Use “BAM!” and
“POW!” to cheer yourself on, to frighten an (imaginary)
opponent into submission, and to encourage any witnesses
to cheer for you (which will frighten your opponent
even more).
DANCE
Balancing on the balls of your feet, step forward on one
foot while extending the same-side arm, wrist forward,
in the same direction, letting your fingers follow after the
wrist has reached its maximum extension. The movement
is identical to throwing a Frisbee. At the moment when
the fingers follow (or the imaginary Frisbee is released),
cry “Dance!” Repeat with the other leg and arm, and keep
repeating, in alternation, crying “Dance!” with each move.
Continue, switching to the word “Ballet!” As you step
on your right foot, go up on the toes of your left foot, and
vice versa. Say “Ballet!” in a way that encourages others
to appreciate the beauty of ballet (whether or not you find
it beautiful). Continue, switching to the word “L’amour!”
(French for “love,” pronounced “la-MOOR!”) and imagining
that you are casting beautiful flower petals—as love
tokens—at the feet of beautiful people. Say “L’amour!” in a
way that encourages others to think you a wonderful and
imaginative lover (whether or not you think you are). Exult
in your magnificent ballet moves and your beautiful tossing
of flower petals.
Did those last two exercises make you feel a bit foolish?
Good—for that means you are learning what it means
to perform behaviors beyond what you do in your everyday
life. Actors do things all the time that would appear
ridiculous if they did them in daily life—such as behave
like an ass in A Midsummer Night’s Dream or cry like a
witch in Macbeth—yet these actors must believe in what
they’re doing, and believe they want to do those things.
The “shadow-box” and “dance” exercises involve doing
something you’re asked (by a stage direction or director)
to do, but finding a reason to make it seem like something
you want to do, no matter how foolish you might have
thought it when you were first asked to do it.
CONTENTLESS SCENE: WHAT DID YOU
DO LAST NIGHT?
Here is a short dialogue exchange written for two actors.
It has no fixed content: it takes on meaning only when it
becomes part of a context, which, in this exercise, can be
any of the seven situations listed after the dialogue. To
perform this exercise, one person memorizes the lines of
role A and the other of role B. Then the players choose
any of the seven situations and “perform” the scene
accordingly.
This exercise is best experienced in a classroom
where half of the participants learn one role and half the
other and each participant tries the scene several times,
changing both situations and partners on each occasion.
The Dialogue
a: Hi!
b: Hello.
a: How’s everything?
b: Fine. I guess.