Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Technique Schmechnique!

Really??  Do I need technique to act??  Can't I just show up and say my lines with confidence and believability?  It's not THAT hard!

You know these days it seems like that's all you really need to do--at least for commercials, television, and film roles--those paying gigs that seem to matter, right?  Just BE yourself.  So in recent years I started to wonder.  After all, the only actors sharing their secrets about technique are those famous film and television celebrities...and many of them have no background in training what so ever.  Or if they do -- they have long left it behind because they are paid more to play their own personality.  AND is there anything wrong with that?  Honestly, work IS work!  And to be PAID to show up, say your lines, and not bump into the furniture is GOOD work!

Then the other day I read something that appeared so near the truth it made me sad.  It was one of those blogs about the awful "truths" about acting and why you SHOULDN'T pursue a career.  One of the blog's points said "Most roles have nothing to do with acting."  Well THIS really got my gears turning.  Most roles have nothing to do with acting?  Could that be true?  If so then maybe years of study and technique ISN'T that important.  So...I started to think about what I've seen and heard about modern trends in acting.  I thought about the stories I've heard on the many different ways actors work.  I thought about the horrors I've read about all the different tactics directors use to manipulate actors into giving that perfect performance.  I thought about typecasting and how typically casting is based entirely on your physical appearance--and even at times the essence of your personality/who YOU are as a person in real life.  I started to think about how more and more film actors are encouraged to ad lib dialogue and how other actors have the confidence to approach writers/directors with "I don't think I would say this" complaints.  I started to really consider the "method" way of acting and all the short cuts I've railed against and wondered if it at all matters -- IF the end result is to achieve a truthful moment.  Why waste years training if the only goal is to nail it in ONE take!  IS a schizophrenic approach to becoming the character all THAT destructive if it means you will become a successful actor recognized in the industry?  I mean, every career requires sacrifice--occupational hazards, right??

SIDEBAR: Check out this amazing interview with David Cronenberg.  It is no surprise that actors thrive and deliver stellar performances in his pictures.  He clearly has a great respect for actors and how we work.  As opposed to the horrific directing techniques (mentioned) that are apparently TAUGHT to film directors all the time!  David Cronenberg on Directing: 'Get Good Actors and Let Them Be Good'

I think the thing is, if you are not that SERIOUS about acting...if it isn't a true passion of yours and you just want a shot at fame...and I know I've said something to this effect before but...go ahead and forget technique.  Give the fast track a try.  You could very well make it on your looks and confident/natural abilities in front of a camera.  In fact!  I have a theory that many of the younger generation -- who've grown up with video cameras recording their every move from birth on -- have a leg up over the older generation.  It makes sense right?  The camera is not a foreign voyeur.  The camera is a natural companion.  It documents "real" life and you can be "real" in front of it, right?  Or better yet the sensation of performing or being observed has developed into a NATURAL sensation.  But even if all of these things do fall into place for you...and I hope they do...that ALONE will only carry you so far.  Eventually you will want more.  You will become bored with portraying yourself...or worse yourself, YOUR PERSONA will become the only character you CAN play.  You will long to play ANYTHING different.  Not to mention the fact that you will reach the limits of your emotional boundaries...at least the ones you are comfortable sharing...and then in order to go deeper that will require you to alter the events of your realities to inspire true emotion.  And that always gets messy.  Enter method.  Welcome to crazytown.  Not to mention that longevity is KEY in this business and the mob tires of the same thing after a while.  If you are only after fame then range is the only thing that can save you once you are yesterday's news.  You will have to re-invent yourself or prove that you are not just a pretty face.  Then you find yourself asking our original question...do I REALLY need technique? What do you think now?

But what about the person who is passionately devoted to acting?  The person who feels that it is their calling and they can do nothing else in life.  The person who believes in storytelling and creating.  The person who believes that acting is an art.  The person who devotedly finds ways to build their life around those beliefs.  For myself, and this company, I believe that technique is part of the draw and pleasure of acting.  It is the satisfying challenge.  It is what makes acting art.  It is what gives structure and definition to the act of creation.  So if we foolishly concede that most roles have nothing to do with acting -- then where is the joy of our career?  Where is the creation?

So at this point I think we have to return to a place of faith.  I admit, I CAN see where this blogger would say what they said but I still think he is wrong.  I actively choose to BELIEVE he is wrong.  Acting is more than the job.  Acting is more than the role.  It's true, you will go out for many auditions and be asked to do things that you THINK have NOTHING to do with your training.  I've thought that myself.  That's ego.  And in the end those thoughts didn't serve me and they won't serve you.  EVERY acting event is an opportunity for technique.  Every foolish, abstract, disconnected, simple, every day task that you AS AN ACTOR are asked to perform IS an opportunity for technique.  An opportunity to play a character.  An opportunity to take on a new WHO AM I.  Some tasks may appear to be merely an extension of you the actor but do not fall into the lazy trap of thinking that you are "just playing yourself."  You are still "performing" for the benefit of someone else.  No matter what the task is a shift in your reality occurs.  A shift in your awareness.  So ACTING takes place in EVERY role.  And here is the BOTTOM LINE: The moment you cross the threshold of reality into imagination and creativity is the moment you cease to be you--"the actor" and in that moment technique becomes your navigator. 

Is every role Lady Macbeth or Richard III?  Not at all!  Austin Pendleton uses a perfect image to describe "new" actors.  He says we are all like little puppies with tongues flapping...so excited to lick everything up or in the actor's case ACT everything up!  "Oh I'm ready to cry!!  Let me CRY!!  Oh I can be crazy.  Let me be CRAZY!!  Oh I can be angry.  Watch me...I'm MAD angry!!"  Then somewhere along the way our ego bullies in and gets involved.  It starts to define WHICH roles deserve technique and which roles we can phone in or just play "our self."  WHICH roles are acting and which roles are not worth our time.  Well that is sad.  I do not dispute that we ALL crave challenges in our work.  Just like every profession we want to excel and be pushed outside of our professional boundaries.  We want to impress our superiors and be praised for a job well done.  Sure it is only natural and human to want approval but every job, or role, deserves quality attention and execution.  And an actor's JOB is to do this with EVERY character that they pursue.  Even if it is one line on a commercial.  Or standing at a sink washing dishes and being asked to pick up the dish soap and flash your pearly whites.  Or as a town person in a crowd.  An Actor's PRIDE should be at the core of his/her artistic reputation -- NOT in just his/her most POPULAR roles performed.

And after saying this it brings up a key point.  Do we judge quality by the degree of effort required to create?  I mean wouldn't it be amazing to play King Lear with the same ease of selling tooth paste?  The thing is it SHOULD be!  Now don't get me wrong because the physical and emotional demands of King Lear are LEAGUES beyond the physical and emotional demands of a personal hygiene commercial BUT the techniques are the same.  Each role requires different degrees of technical depth but without that you are simply coasting on your personality.  You will never cross into creation.  Then it isn't the ROLE that requires true acting...you have made the CHOICE not to act.

Don't make that choice!

As I have mentioned before, I believe in Transformational Acting.  Going TO the character and not the other way around.  You cannot do this without technique.  You cannot DISCOVER a character without technique.  If you try to bring a character to you then you will always find yourself wrestling with the story, role, AND yourself to make everything work.  And it won't!  I guarantee you will wear yourself out and STILL never discover a true character.  Why not?  Because the truth is you aren't really looking to discover anything--you already found it -- IN yourself and now you just have to alter the character to fit your measurements.  This doesn't work.  You will never feel satisfied.  You will never feel fulfilled.  You will never feel like it fits and by the time it does you will only see your own reflection instead of the character.  When you bring a character to you then you are a SAFE artist and safe is never inspired.  There is no GROWTH in safe.  There is no creation in safe.  Creation takes RISK!

If you still don't believe me look at it this way...Technique helps you take the fearless journey of character discovery.  It supports you along your way and lights your path!  I agree with the safe folks, walking down a dark road to unfamiliar territory IS terrifying.  OF COURSE you want to bring whatever is out there BACK to you instead of going out to get it!  But that is not how it works.  You have to go out and find it.  You have to be courageous!  You have to believe that technique is your security, your faith, and your rescue.  Every SKILL is developed on a technical framework.  Sports, strategy, music, surgery, dance, fighting, painting, sculpting, design, carpentry...what have you...the list goes on and on but the one thing they all have in common is none of them are successfully without technique.  Acting is no different.  And the best thing about technique is that the more you master it the easier and more naturally your skills will perform on their own.  Eventually you are no longer THINKING about technique you are simply DOING. This is why technique will never let you down.  This is why technique is your truth! 

THIS is why every actor NEEDS technique.  Really.