Prague Playhouse

Meisner Acting Class Blog on “getting inspired”

October 10th, 2009 at 10:44pm boris

Hi everyone!

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

This entry is about how getting inspired is a necessary and fun way to improve one’s Meisner technique .

Click on the “CLASSES” button above and then choose “ACTING FOR PROFESSIONALS” to read more about the class itself and where we meet!

I came back from a twelve-day-trip on Tuesday and failed to prepare myself well enough to “do” a really good activity. Still, I enjoyed it, as I slowly seem to get the hang of what the whole tedium of “doors and activities” really is about. I’m sure, I wrote something similar before. But my grasp of and on the technique seems to tighten somewhat. And seeing two only slightly more advanced members from class do a scene last Wednesday: nearly effortlessly,  fluidly, with verve and so interesting to watch, I am more than convinced now of the “Meisner Way”!

Preparation is key. Then trust in the work that was done before class! I mentioned the tennis-player before, who exercises to prepare for the match. While playing a match, he does everything but exercises, of course. The better his preparation, though, the better his performance. This is also valid for our work, even if it so far “only” amounts in an exercise itself, albeit one in front of our teacher and acting colleagues. What is important in that situation is to let go and trust in one’s own preparedness – which takes thorough preparation in the first place, of course.

Preparation can be boring. The fun bit about it, though, is getting inspired:

Our  teacher Brian often asks us, what we did to inspire ourselves. “What are you doing artistically right now?”, is a typical question, we hear from him. At first, I felt pressured to some cultural activity. And I failed to see the connection between consuming art and producing it. But it is obvious and quite pleasant: We are the sum of what we perceive. So what we take in with our senses is the only thing we can work with to express ourselves. An artist thus needs to get inspiration. And the great thing about that is: I can choose, how to inspire myself.

Even though I failed to do actual Meisner work for myself during my trip – and it showed in class – it was a wonderful way to get inspired. Spain is so beautiful and warm in the early fall. And I just loved taking it all in: the different smells and tastes, sights and sounds! In the Prado I saw one of the most famous works by the artist Hieronymus Bosch: “The garden of earthly delights”. I was moved by it to the point that I had to linger in front of it for quite a while. I also went to see it a second time. We had a book with close-ups of scenes from that picture at home. But an original is an original: It just inspired me so much! I started immediately to think about how a human being can come up with these weird things and how it is possible to depict them so expertly. You can find more on this enigmatic 15th-century-painter here!

Right-click on the image below and chose then to see it in full detail!

El Greco moved me even more, as he lived in the late 16th and early 17th century but drew subjectively and psychologically, often with little regard to the outward reality of things, in such a way that one would expect only in the late 19th century. He might be less striking than Bosch. But many of his paintings speak directly to my soul. More on him here!

Right-click on the image below and chose then to see it in full detail!

Getting inspired is essential and a great pleasure to me these days! I love it. And I get inspired by the smallest things, like a red leaf flickering on a tree in the wind or a stripe of sunlight on a sidewalk.

Reading is quite inspiring, too. I also love to watch TV with a Meisner eye!

So, everything is out there. It just takes keen senses and an open mind to get inspired by almost anything!

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General stuff:

Our acting class consists of some fifteen new and not so new 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! If you do, be prepared for some serious thrills!

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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,General