The imaginary world is a tool necessary for an actor to use when performing. This is because we have to allow our minds to see the world we want to portray in order to create an effective performance and thus use 'the magic if'.
The more vivid an actor's imagination, the more creative and interesting an actor's theatrical choices will be. If a character is a product of a writers imagination, an actor must then use their imagination to bring that character to life.
As part of an exploration on the use of imagination in theatre we completed the 'black box exercise'. This was where we were shown a black metal box and asked to write what we believed was in there. We had no idea what was in the box and so it was up to our imaginations so decide what we wanted to be inside. I decided that there were art supplies inside the box:
Other people chose a variety of things; letters, toys, jewellery and even a rainbow etc.
The Black Box exercise was useful because it helped us to see outside the box (excuse the pun) and allowed us to apply our imagination and understand how it works.
We also used an imagination task to support our monologue work.
We were asked to draw the space in which we imagined our character to be speaking at the time of the monologue. I drew a picture of a teenage girl's extremely messy bedroom where there were clothes all over the floor, the mirror was smashed, pill bottles and empty bottles of wine were scattered on the floor, books were scattered open around the room and ripped or peeling posters of Gothic literature hung from the walls. I believe this is appropriate for my character, Nell, as she is a severely depressed teenager who has lost all hope and I imagine that this is what her room would be like. Drawing this picture really gave me a sense of where I was during the piece, which I feel will benefit me in performance.
This week we also continued progress with our monologues. I presented my monologue to the class and was given feedback in the form of targets to work from:
- Slow down words and try to breathe through the nose whilst talking
- Vary the pace
- Add emphasis for effect in certain places
I have practised the monologue with these adjustments, but I am still finding slowing pace and breathing more steadily a challenge. I think that by breaking the script up into breaks where I should breathe will help me to address this.
Everyone in the class seemed to struggle in the same areas. Pace and breathing seemed to be the problems that everyone shared, however, everyone seemed to have found a monologue which suited them and connected with them in some way. Some people paced their monologue better than others and so I have seen how they slowed their monologue down and I hope to be able to take that technique away and apply it to my own performance.
I believe that addressing the units, meaning and thought processes of the character in the monologue will further establish my knowledge of the character and thus improve the truth of my performance. It has helped me add emotion and meaning to the lines and break down the script into manageable portions.
We were taught not to 'dress up the character' but to 'let the character dress you'. This means that you shouldn't add anything to the character, but let the character's facts and characteristics shape you as a performer. We should work from the foundations of a character and build up as this leads to a truthful product through an organic process.
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