The Great Acting Blog: “Commitment Creates Energy”

The Great Acting Blog: “Commitment Creates Energy”

By committing to a task we are telling ourselves that it is important, and consequently, our mind and body are energised. If you think about acting in a scene, whenever we are not properly committed to our action, our performance is unfocussed, it lacks precision and our intensity is low. When we commit to the scene fully however, we get a shot of adrenalin, our mind clears and focusses, our work becomes specific and purposeful. This commitment, this signal that what we are about to do is important, takes us into a heightened state of awareness, which is also a blissfully creative place to be. We’ve committed, suddenly something is at stake, our actions come at a price and that’s why body and mind steam into action.

The boring, bland acting that we so often see however, comes about because the actor has chosen to commit to nothing outside of the advancement of their own personal careers – artistically, there is nothing at stake for them. They never fully face up to the moment, that terrifying black hole, they never truly step into the darkness and fight their way out. Instead, their work is a mere rehashing of whatever they did at home in front of the mirror, and this requires no commitment at all, it’s a way of working designed to nullify any excitement. This kind of actor has chosen this path because they’re not willing to pay the price of true artistic endeavour, which is toil and self-doubt and no-guarantee-of-a-pay-off. Similarly however, they never experience creative elation either. It’s no wonder they lack
energy.

Show yourself how important your work is by committing to it fully. Then you’ll bring the best of yourself to it.

Subscribe to The Great Acting Blog