HOW TO ACT IN REAL LIFE
FEELINGS
In our recent past, acting was about being
good at having feelings. It was about
having a lot of feelings.
Sometimes there were masculine ones that
were unrelenting, unselfconscious and
angry. Those feelings shot out in all directions like fists. Sometimes there were
gentle, repressed feelings. In these cases,
when the tears would come, we would not
see the beautiful face move, but we would
know that the tears were of the utmost
despair and that they had the deepest
meaning.
But ACTING IN REAL LIFE is not about
being good at having feelings.
With ACTING IN REAL LIFE, we respect
feelings. We don’t want to abuse them and
treat them like a parlour game or a talent.
We don’t want to parade them around to
brag, or use them for our dirty ends.
The difficult task now is to have feelings
while people are watching you have them,
and while you are watching the people.
REGARDING YOU, THE
AUDIENCE, AND US,
THE AUDIENCE
In the old days, actors had to pretend that
no one could see them. Now, as actors,
we have to pretend that being seen isn’t
so hard.
In the old days, the theatrical stages were
clearly marked, and when you were on the
stage, it was safe and easy to pretend
that you couldn’t see all the people who
were looking at you.
Now, when the “theatrical stages” appear
and disappear in the strangest of places,
and when we all take turns being actors, it
is necessary to remove this pretendingnot-to-see-the-audience element of
acting. It is a relic.
We must do this in a way that does not
take too much from the observer or give
too much to the observer.
CHARACTERS
I, THE TEACHER, PERSON A, know what I’m
doing. But the knowing is only a hunch; it
is only at the beginning. I need to both
teach and perform on a small scale first in
order to build an easy language that I can
then give to others. To teach a large class
would be disastrous at this point.
HOW TO ACT IN
REAL LIFE
That is why it is just me and PERSON B,
THE STUDENT. It is probably hard to tell
who is PERSON A and who is PERSON B. It
is even hard for us, but ACTING IN REAL
LIFE is all about flexibility.
This is primarily a workshop, a selfeducation, though to workshop properly,
we need you, THE PEOPLE, to see us, so
we can practice how to see and be seen.
It might not look like we are doing so
much but believe us, we are. And we are
thinking about what you are doing, what
you are thinking, and how you are acting.
At some point, a better teacher, PERSON
X, might replace THE TEACHER, PERSON A.
It will be hard to tell when this switch will
happen since in either case, we will only
be BEING and not so much lecturing.
Some of you might be a better PERSON A
or a better PERSON B, but for now, with
you outside this red circle of carpet, you
are THE PEOPLE and I am PERSON A.
Together, through teaching, listening,
thinking, talking, being watched, and
having feelings, we might slowly together
come to a system of HOW TO ACT IN
REAL LIFE; how to handle the understanding that we can be seen.
THE WORLD
To see while being seen is a New World
skill. To be good at both is called HAVING
EYES IN THE FRONT AND THE BACK OF
YOUR HEAD, a clear channel.
We are learning to bind our stories to the
world, to see what actions and characters
could fit in the boundaries of this world -to see, for instance, if these boundaries
could even fit the gods or demons of our
old stories.
We are learning to see what we have
around us in magical terms so we don’t
have to cut down trees to build more
stages with those trees, and build fake
trees, and in turn neglect the feelings of
the trees and THE PEOPLE who are cutting
them down, and THE PEOPLE who are
observing.
We are learning to endure the fact that
sometimes our PLAY is a game and sometimes it is real. It is always hard to know
for sure. It is still hard for us, whose narrative this is, to know what is possible. If our
PLAY is in life, can it also be real? Could
we make it real, rather than let the built
stage absorb our hopes for a different
world.
I - WE - THE ACTOR - PERSON A THE TEACHER - principal, MARGAUX
WILLIAMSON
THE ACTOR - PERSON B - THE STUDENT - principal, SHEILA HETI
ACTING IN REAL LIFE - THIS
THE RECENT PAST - 1980 - 2011
THE OLD DAYS - 1599 - 1980
THE NEW WORLD - 2012 THE PEOPLE - YOU