Prague Playhouse

Meisner Acting Class Blog on “Relaxation”

May 6th, 2009 at 11:45pm boris

Hi everyone!

I’m Boris Wilke and member of the Prague Playhouse Meisner acting group. I blog about our class activities.

On Wednesday, May 6th, our teacher Brian Caspe talked with us about relaxation.

Click on the “ACTING CLASS” button above to read more about the class itself and where we meet!

Click the “(more…)”-button below to read about tonight’s class!

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Before I go on about relaxation, I’d like to stress the fact, that being in the moment and being truthful really are the key to success in Meisner technique and ultimately to acting itself.

I was humbled yet again by what happened in tonight’s exercise. I had to deal with Fred, who was very emotional and totally focussed on me, while I struggled with my activity. Instead of dropping it, I forced myself to juggle with it and didn’t connect enough with Fred, who was left alone with his sadness and anger. Had I been truthful and in the moment more, I would have shucked my activity and placed all my attention on Fred. I didn’t.

I don’t want to blame myself for anything, though. I broke down crying in class and experienced how it alienated my partners, how they shut down and left me alone with my emotion. It just happens. I know now, why they did it. Fred scared me. I was overwhelmed by his intensity. Next time I should try to express at least that. It is a step in the right direction. I did try, but I fell short of it. I will do better next time.

Rehearsal is the key to getting better. I used to think that going to class twice a week and coming prepared was already quite good. It is not enough – not, at least, if one wants to progress.

Fred has been dedicating his whole life in Prague, now about eight months, to Meisner. And it shows. I rehearse two to three times a week. It shows. Some people do not rehearse. It shows.

As with any art – any skill, really – practice lets you progress. I am a writer. The more I write, the better I get, just by writing. Fred is an actor 110%. He rehearses more than once a day and spends hours thinking about his acting work. Even he might have a bad day. But he shoots at it so hard and from so many angles, he is bound to get better – and fast at that – because he simply does it.

What is to learn from this? Acting is hard, but applying yourself to it suffices.

“I take care of quantity, God takes care of quality” is the quote of choice for this (from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”).

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Now on to relaxation.

Brian said, it helps you prepare yourself for anything, that you need to be focussed for – be it a sport event, a job interview, a performance of any sort, an important talk or a Meisner exercise.

I have been using visualisation with amazing success for the last two years. It involves being relaxed. But I do it at home, mostly in bed, before I fall asleep or directly after waking up.

Relaxation wants less than creating a whole new world for oneself, which is what visualisation can be used for. Visualisation involves putting oneself in an alpha state. It’s a state of mind exactly between waking and sleeping. You can do it anywhere. But it involves practice and skill and oftentimes misses the point.

Relaxation is easier to achieve. Basically closing one’s eyes and getting oneself in a comfortable position does the job. People are not used to suddenly putting themselves in a state, where they can hear themselves think. They get scared by the fact, that at the beginning it is really hard to clear one’s mind. I tend to hear music a lot, even in my sleep. And it is music, my mind produces. How scary is that?!

But as much as it might be disconcerting to fail at achieving a clear state of mind at the beginning, even the most nervous relaxation-rookie automatically does relax a least a little bit, simply by doing it.

Sit, stand or lie with eyes closed and relax! That’s all you need to do, really.

Like my writing, Fred’s acting exercises or anything else, one chooses to do regularly, relaxing will lead to deeper, better, faster and more effective relaxation.

Relaxation will eventually set in within seconds. And two to five minutes of it will suffice for you to let go of tension, anger, anxiety and/or stress. You’ll loosen yourself up, so that you can easily put yourself in the moment with a full focus on doing the thing, that you are getting yourself relaxed and ready for.

Brian recommended trying out different techniques, because everyone of us needs to find his or her own way to relax.

Finding one’s ideal relaxation technique can take some time and involve work. But ain’t that one heck of a fun way to work?

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General stuff:

Our acting class consists of some ten active members, who meet every Monday and Wednesday from 6.30 pm to about 8.30. We do Meisner. And the Meisner-technique really rocks!

If you want to connect with your inmost feelings, expressing them freely in an acting environment and thus getting to know yourself better and better, feel free to join us!

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About the author:

I am Boris Wilke, a German expat in Prague. I am a writer at large and have been studying Meisner since January 2008. If any of you know of any kind of acting work, that befits a laddish, tall 40-year-old, please leave a note!

Acting,Classes