The Great Acting Blog: “Hold Your Nerve”

The Great Acting Blog: “Hold Your Nerve”

The dry. That dreaded moment when we just can’t remember that line of dialogue. The alarm bells going off inside us seem to drown out everything, we do our best to stay cool, hoping that our blank mind will suddenly be scrawled with the correct words. We wait for what seems like an eternity, a horrible, agonising eternity, with the vague feeling that only humiliation awaits. Finally, mercifully, the penny drops and the elusive words suddenly emerge at the forefront of our minds and we can proceed accordingly.

That’s how it can feel anyway. The truth is very much different. That agonising eternity wasn’t an agonising eternity at all, it was merely a slight pause in our speech, so slight in fact, that almost nobody else noticed it (perhaps only those who know us well, instinctively sensing our hidden discomfort). Of course, we held ourselves together while we remembered what we wanted to say, we always do, but it’s the rush of blood within us at such moments that feels so tumultuous. The point is however, we could have waffled out some nonsense just to keep the scene moving and release the pressure, but we usually don’t.

The lesson is that when we are under pressure, we’ve got more time than we think we have. Whatever we’re doing, whenever it goes wrong there is always time to stop and think about it before deciding on a course of action. Taking rash, unthinking decisions just to make ourselves feel as though we’re seizing control of the situation may relieve the pressure for a brief moment, but once that moment has passed and the alarm bells have quieted, we are likely to be left only with an even bigger mess.

Hold your nerve.

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