In my last post, I lauded this company class that we took. Here are the first two exercises we discussed/tried out.
STATUS EXERCISE
This has a very English background. The idea is that anyone in a scene is fighting for the higher status. (Your status depended on how close you were to the king/queen)
I was the guinea pig for this along with J-Yo.
We started saying the lines. Each line would have a claim on status. Immediately we began to realize that we couldn’t let the other person win. There could be no concession. The scene involves two friends. Walter has taken his good friend Jim (me) to Central Park Lake to look for something (it ends up being a mermaid). Jim is hesitant to join in because he’s left an interesting party, but he relents all the same.
The professor put a small object in the very center of the room. The goal was to get to the center first and stay there.
He told us to speak each line to assume dominance over the other person. After each line, the rest of the class would applaud if they were convinced we had won the upperhand. Based on the applause, the actor would take a step closer to claiming the center.
It took a few tries, but J-Yo and I were able to start getting pretty aggressive. We faced each other, and I must say it was so delicious to take a step closer to the center.
But something interesting happened: once we kind of began the game, it started to flat-line. It was just a mild tennis match and the volleys and hits were going to the same place in the court.
“Now that you’ve found even ground, it has stopped becoming an issue of status. You have to find different ways of gaining dominance.”
So we’d have to switch our tactics throughout the lines. We did accordingly, and then:
“You guys need to ditch the slingshots and arrows. It’s time to bring out the bazookas.”
We went ahead with that. It became powerfully charged. I mean, you really had to reach for the jugular—figuratively (though the one rule we had was “don’t touch each other”).
Once we finished, the prof. said this was merely a spice in the cabinet of acting.
Someone pointed out that this exercise can really just amplify to aggression and anger too soon—become one note. The prof. mentioned that “aggression and anger are confused as the same thing.” He also reminded us that “drama equals conflict.”
LEVELS OF HONESTY/SUBTEXT
Here’s another spice. A person talks to someone at one of four levels:
1) Cocktail party (small talk)
2) New acquaintance (a new colleague, perhaps your favorite barista)
3) Social group (friends, close colleagues, family, spouse, romantic partner)
4) God/journal/invisible person sitting in the passenger of your car/ psychiatrist
During a conversation, people respond and talk to another at one of the four levels. Very rarely do you EVER talk to anyone at the fourth level. I mean, these are things that pack a punch. It’s brutal, untainted honesty. There are social niceties that we have been ingrained to abide by. Flirting involves a lot of level one talk with a small pinch of three here and there. And even then, the minute someone goes to three, they jump back to one immediately.
It’s kind of hard to explain, but the prof. did a great job of showing what each layer sounds like.
Characters like Hedda Gabler have a dynamic way of navigating these levels. She can charm like none other. She is a master of small talk. And then, every once in a while, she throws down a line that is all level four, which rips the carpet from underneath someone.
Hamlet is a character who lives at a number 4 level pretty consistently, but it’s very difficult to communicate with someone who is that brutally honest. And he does a bit of a roller coaster with the levels throughout much of the play. This is a great way of showing that antic disposition.
Dysart in Equus is a character who thrives at level four who is trying to bring Alan (his patient) to that level. Alan doesn’t get there—until the very end of the play.
Characters are struggling to have other characters break the ice between the two. The lower the number, the more ice there is between the two.
We used our scenes, and labeled the first ten lines according to which level the characters were speaking (or what we thought).
What we realized is that a dramatic shift in the room happens when someone drops a “truth bomb” (a la 30 Rock) in their delivery. The prof. would tell someone to use a level four on a certain line. The duo would go through the scene again, actor A would say this line with absolute honesty, and then actor B (the scene partner) would have to respond to that level. It kind of pulls your empathy strings big time. It’s brilliant to watch.
Most plays deal with characters who are battling with level four feelings and needs.
“Every play is about a person who is at war with the collective.”
I liked that.
I’ve NEVER sat through an acting class with so much attention. I loved watching every scene. It was so great to see people try new things. It was great to try things for myself. I loved it.
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