MARCH 14, 2014 . . .THE FINAL CHAPTER . . . Your horizon is limited if all you can do is a variation of Hamlet as the village idiot. I learned that at College. So it was essential we find a different solution for Stuck in the Head (His Comanche name, perhaps). Thus the investigation took a different turn. Early on in my association with this gent, I remarked that his pronunciation was skewed, that he often put emphasis on strange words and/or inappropriate places. It was almost impossible to correct him without endless repetition. And even then, he would often revert. I was stymied. This past Monday, I asked him why he was so distressed if he wasnt absolutely word perfect when delivering text. Surely he could correct a mistake the next time through. You dont understand, he said. I have to be perfect. Thats the way I do them at home. What do you mean - Do them at Home? I do each line over and over until I know it letter perfect. I should be able to deliver them that way. Wait a minute, wait a damned minute! You memorize the line? Before what? Before anything else. Holy crap! You memorize, like, where the emphasis is supposed to go and meaning of the line - EVEN IF YOU DONT KNOW THE ACTUAL MEANING OF THE DAMNED LINE!!?? YOURE MEMORIZING!!?? Well - I never thought about it like that - but, yeah - if you put it that way . . . I suppose I am. So the words come before feeling, right? Even if you think you know what the line means but dont - you say the damned words anyway. Is that what Im hearing? Uh . . . yeah. I suppose so. And youre wondering why youre locked in your head and saying shit wrong . . . and thiss been going on since December? Excuse me while I slit my wrists! . . . I think I see . . .oh, boy! . . . And as it turned out, that was the entire issue. I grabbed a file folder and a sharpie and wrote on one flap of the folder: NO GODDAMNED MEMORIZING! NO SAYING WORDS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND. Put that folder where you can see it every time you look at a piece of text! Tent it so it stays open. ACTING IS NOT A HISTORY TEST. YOU DONT MEMORIZE THE ANSWERS! Read it, feel it. Chekhov will forgive you if you dont get the words right. I may not - but Ill get over it.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 18:59:02 +0000
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