The Great Acting Blog: “Rewarding & Enrichiching – Being An Individual Creative Artist”

The Great Acting Blog: “Rewarding & Enrichiching – Being An Individual Creative Artist”

Check out this clip, where Mickey, a businessman, verbally dismantles a competitor (contains rude words).

 In 2008, I wrote my first, and, as yet, my last one man play, called The Call. It was about a businessman, called Mickey, who, upon learning he has won a business award, decides to ring up a competitor, Tony, to boast, which in turn leads to a battle of dominance between them, over girls, cars and money. The way the play was structured however, the audience only hears Mickey’s side of the conversation. The Call is about many things – it is about our need for contact while simultaneously remaining independent, or at least, feeling that we are independent: Mickey’s only relationships are with Tony via the telephone, and with a blow up doll – the phone and the doll are both synthetic and controllable, it is within Mickey’s control to terminate contact with Tony or the doll at any moment. But it’s also about how the quest for social dominance leads to psychotic behaviour, especially when submission from others is not forthcoming.

At the time of the production, I was experimenting with the techniques of Michael Chekhov, an actor who had been frustrated by Stanislavki’s plodding contraints at the Moscow Art Theatre. In response, Chekhov devised his own methodology, which stressed that the actor should use his imagination and the “fiery images” he saw there, and incorporate them into his performance. Creative Individuality was also an important component of his technique, as was the use of Iconic Gestures. Chekhov saw the actor as an individual creative artist, not as a director’s tool, and his techniques lead to bold, thrilling performances, mystical and bravura. I had written the play with this kind of acting in mind, and the final text was very highly strung, any actor playing this part would need to reach way out of his comfort zone to fill this role, there can be no “just saying the lines”, and that’s not to mention of course, the severe technical challenge of pretending to speak to someone on the phone, and doing so for the best part of an hour.

No doubt The Call has been an important step in my education, and is arguably one of the toughest roles I’ve played. At the time of rehearsals, I became neurotic about remembering my lines (not something I usually have a problem with), waking up at 4 o’clock in the morning, jumping out of bed, grabbing the script, and furiously going over them. I rehearsed doing the play in it’s entirety scores of times – I was determined to walk on stage and give total commitment – and perhaps this determination went a little too far at times, leading to obsession. However, I often advocate on this blog, for actors to perceive themselves as individual creative artists, and not just employees, to forge their own destiny and not wait for someone to give them a break, and yeah sure this is hugely challenging, frightening even, and yes it can create pressure and the odd behaviour I have mentioned above, but isn’t that the point? Isn’t the actor’s life about continually putting himself under pressure, then seeing how he deals with that pressure, and in the process, learning about himself, then carrying those lessons forward? This was certainly the case with The Call. It also happens to be a rewarding and enriching way to go about things.

I hope you enjoyed the clip.