"Be in the moment... NOW"

Today in rehearsal I had to remind myself of one of the most basic acting principals: be in the moment and stay there. We are at a challenging stage of rehearsals for Swimming in the Shallows. Oh wait, let's see, our read through was only February 7th, and last night we had our first run off book (it was pretty messy, as you might imagine). We open March 8th. So more or less, that puts us two weeks in with two weeks ago. At this point, I'm pretty off book, you know, mostly off book. There are some passages that need further attention on my part. But overall, I have the text in my head and I've hammered out a rudimentary shape to the character and it's arc. My scenes, especially the ones we've had more time to give attention to, like one early scene that we spent tonight's rehearsal pulling apart, have a form and a rhythm that I'm comfortable with. Too comfortable with, as with tonight's scene, I was blowing through it without really thinking about what I'm saying or more importantly why I'm saying it. This text is pretty tricky though, rhythmically it's very demanding, it's sort of similar to Shakespeare in that it's written to be performed without unnecessary pauses but you see pauses are your best friend as a modern, realistic actor because they give you time to think, or to create the illusion of thought in your character.

Shakespeare's text is written in verse, in iambic pentameter, and there is a way that if you can find and follow the pentameter the text will carry it with you through performance and into all the various discoveries the character makes in it's journey. So if you know what your saying and how to say it, basically Shakespeare does the work for you. This technique, however tough a nut to crack, is pretty astounding! Swimming in the Shallows has a similarly rhythmic quality, you don't have time to stop and think you have to think with the line, as John Barton says in "Playing Shakespeare" or you know something like that.

But the thing I had to remind myself of tonight was to "be in the moment" and actually listen to my scene partner, even though I know exactly what she's going to say, I had to ACTUALLY HEAR HER SAY IT before I RESPONDED. Man, that's hard sometimes, right? So yes, I was committing the crime of anticipation. It's tough being halfway through, especially in this short process when I have so much still to figure out. And time to figure it out in. But not too much time!

Now that I've learned the text... I have to unlearn it. Real jedi type shit, huh? But it's true, and every actor worth their salt is reminded of it, every time we get on stage.