Don't Take Your Character Home To Dinner

Don't take your character home to dinner

A friend in LA recently reached out with challenging questions and concerns about an actor’s health.

David Arthur Walter’s recent blog https://psychodabbler.blogspot.com, is an intriguing writeup about actress Elizabeth Hartman who co-starred with Sydney Poitier in the haunting film, A Patch of Blue [1965].

David writes, “She played her sensitive self, shy and frightened by everyone, a sensitivity which has been the advantage yet the downfall of too many a creative artist.”

Elizabeth Hartman jumped from a window after her marriage break-up in 1987.

Yes, an actor needs to be sensitive in order to tap into the vulnerability of their character. But they should also seek ultimate stability and strength; mentally, emotionally and physically.

Acting technique helps us keep on track when we are subjectively tumbling into inner experiences and emotions. Technique helps us separate fact from fiction.

We practice activating when the rehearsal begins, and deactivating when the rehearsal is over. (So you don’t take your character home to dinner.)

An actor must be able to separate acting and living.

When I read Uta Hagen’s book, Respect for Acting at 17, I remember being impressed by her comment, “… a correctly functioning actor should, ideally, be the healthiest, least neurotic creature on earth, since he is putting his emotional and sensory life to use by expressing it for an artistic purpose.”

We may discover a neurotic aspect of ourselves, especially if we have to bring that emotion to a character. Fantastic, use it.

But being unstable does not make you an artist.

Actors should work from a place of strength and balance in order to play Blanche DuBois or Richard III consistently night after night. Mental/emotional stability allows us to stretch, take risks and then return securely to home base.

You must choose intelligently… with sensitivity to yourself… only go out on the edges when you trust you will get back on solid ground.

Acting is not psychodrama. It is not therapy. But it offers therapeutic insights because it is the study of self and humanity.

As you open to new awareness about your behavior and work with it through acting, you are empowering yourself by becoming conscious and knowledgeable about who you are.

Choose wisely whether or not to use certain dark and painful experiences.

Never activate a traumatic emotion or an experience that has not been metabolized and reintegrated into your life. There are plenty of other resources in you that can be tapped to actualize a role.

In her article in Health Advisor titled, “Emotions & Acting. A Character’s Emotions Aren’t Yours!” hypnotherapist Diane Beck responds to an actor who is concerned that releasing traumatic emotions (in therapy) will numb his work.

She writes: “Clearing emotions from the past won’t make you a less effective actor. It clears the pane for the character’s emotions to shine through rather than being coloured by your own past events and perspectives.”

Keep circulating in all ways.

Acting is a beautiful way to keep the body, mind and spirit circulating, generating and regenerating energy.

The body and mind need to breathe in and out, consume and release. The challenges of acting nourish this cycle.

If we throw ourselves to the wolves each time we play an emotionally challenging role, we become weakened.

Instead, we must choose to act from stability and strength.

Access that strength within by committing to excellence in your craft. It is the basis for a long and healthy life as an artist.