You’ve probably heard the statement, “Acting
is doing.” That’s probably true,
but I think that before you can “do”, you
have to "believe." Acting is believing. An
actor must believe in their abilities to portray whatever
is asked of them. We all do it as children. Ask
a child to become a Power Ranger and you shall witness
the transformation within seconds. In that instant
that child believes in their ability to portray and “become”a
Power Ranger. They may lack the technical skills
to pull it off but you can’t fault their commitment.
Unfortunately as we grow older
that unabashed willingness to believe and “become”is slowly “beaten”out
of us. A parent quiets us if we’re singing
too loudly in a public place. An older sibling
taunts us for making a “stupid”face. A
teacher asks us to sit in a corner because she doesn’t
appreciate our portrayal of an uncle’s bodily
functions. We become teenagers and every move
we make seems to be examined under a microscope.
Are the people around us intentionally
trying to hinder our creative side? Probably not, in all likelihood
what they’re really trying to do is teach us
patience, consideration, politeness, etiquette and
manners. Those are all very fine traits and wonderful
attributes to possess as a human being. And in
hindsight it is much easier to recognize the lessons
we are intended to learn, but in the moment all we
feel is defeated.
When we are in the moment all we
know is that our parent just stopped us from singing
the best rendition
of “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree”ever
performed. All we knew was that our sibling always
found it funny when we crossed our eyes and stuck out
our tongue. All we had was the entire sixth grade
eating out of the palm of our hand until we were embarrassed
by our teacher’s reaction. All we
did was spend three hours trying to pick out the right
shoes to wear to school and a single scoff from a classmate
makes us feel like we royally screwed it up.
That’s how it happens - how the believing becomes
second-guessing and self-consciousness. Little
by little we start to censor ourselves and build walls
around our emotions. We do it to protect ourselves,
to feel safe.
But when you’re acting the last thing you want
to be is safe. Safe means that you’re only
allowing the audience see what you think is appropriate. You
may not believe in your abilities to deliver an honest,
in-depth performance of a role, so you end up playing
it safe out of fear that you’ll be embarrassed
or judged or ridiculed. What you really end up
doing is cheating yourself and the audience.
What you have to do is reverse
all that self-consciousness, shut off all the censors
and tear down the walls that
you’ve been building your entire life. You
should try to be a kid again and believe in your abilities
to deliver whatever is asked of you. Can you
be a walrus with a speech impediment? Sure, no
problem. How about a serial killer on death row? I’m
innocent, I swear. What about somebody’s
grandmother? I’m only 26 but my back’s
feeling sore already.
Once you’ve got yourself believing, well then
the doing will start to fall right into place. Soon
you’re figuring out what sort of words a walrus
has trouble saying, how a killer cocks his head when
he’s talking to someone or why grandma walks
with a cane.
Once you’re believing, soon you’re doing
and now you’re acting!
