Meisner this, Meisner that, but what is it?

I get asked this question a lot about Meisner acting training and it's true what you hear, every person you speak to will describe it to you differently, so mine will be in a long list of what it means to me. I encountered this training a few years ago at the Actors Centre in London, great place to keep your skills up! There, I just kept hearing about Scott Williams, Impulse Theatre and his Meisner classes, some people didn't like it, but most raved, quite often with the enigmatic line 'You're wearing a blue shirt', then the person would espouse on how amasing this was, so I thought, strangely, I have got to try it and find out why saying, 'You're wearing a blue shirt' would send people into accolades of joy and appreciation for an acting technique.

It was a week-long introduction class to Scott's understanding of Meisner training, as he was one of Meisner students, but also, a student of Bill Ball, who had an equal and strong impact on Scott's approach and interpretation to this technique. Well, I went along for the week and it was like my world had been turned upside down and there it was going to stay and needed to. I was spinning from what I heard and knew it was just what I had needed and I had wanted in my approach to my work. Scott is a very positive, supportive and an 'easy to use' teacher (by this I mean, I always left feeling better, rather than some teaching I've experienced where my guts were pulled out, looked at, left on the floor and not put back together again), at least this is my opinion. So after, doing this week, I was determined to sign up for his 2 year course - 1st year is just learning and working on the technique of Meisner, leading up to doing scenes at the end of the first year; the 2nd year is doing plays and using the techniques learnt in the 1st year in the more practical situation of full-length plays. For me that 2 year period changed my work, changed me and showed me how much more I could be doing to help me and my world through the work I do. I am a more in the 'moment' performer. I have had it said so many times since doing this course, what a confident performer I am, how energetic and exciting, because you just don't know what is going to happen next. Just what you want people to say about how theatrical performances can come across and always be alive, just what I loved about great performances as a kid. I've learnt to love whatever and whomever is in front of me and learn to work within the 'given circumstances' and not need to judge my or others work with the 'fine toothed' comb which all my other training has taught me to be like - not a way that helped me at all, as I would just spend a lot of time judging my and others work, rather than just doing it - hence feeding insecurities rather than building the confidence that people see in me today. I feel very honoured and lucky to have been able to do the Meisner training that I have and if you want to find out more about Scott's work and the Impulse theatre just click on the links. If you want to find out about the classes I'm leading for the month of August, but also continue year round in Brighton on this technique check out our facebook page and the website. Happy Meisnering and happy performing to all!

A business trip...

Hopefully you are all aware, I am soon off for a week to Buxton, which I hear is beautiful and in the heart of the Peak District in England! An area I have wanted to go and stay in for awhile and what a better positon to be in than going there to do a show - 'Hamlet'. Many of you native based may know Buxton for it's bottled water. This trip is a dream come true in many ways! I am working with a director I have been trying to work with for three years. You see, our director for 'Hamlet' has her own company called 'Butterfly' and I first met Aileen Gonsalves in the final year of my Meisner acting studies and she is one of the few directors, I know of, who works in the Meisner style. So for 3 years, I have been emailing her about what I am doing and where, only to come back from Canada to find she has emailed me asking me to audition for this production of 'Hamlet'. I can't tell you how excited and thrilled I was; that all those years of doing the 'right thing' to then finally get the audition and then, golden egg time - the part! I am playing Gertrude, Hamlet's Mother in this 1 hour version of 'Hamlet'. It is fast paced, to say the least, as it requires us to get the normally 3 to 4 hour play across in one hour and then do it 3 times a night! To be honest, we will not know if it is night or day, as an added bonus, our 'Hamlet' is set in the bowels of the earth - Poole's Cavern! So the audience promenades through the caves while we do the play - the actors never leave the stage, so to speak, we just pop in and out of the ghostly players in this highly inventive and exciting 'Hamlet'. So what better business trip could I ask for, this is a part of my work I just love, seeing parts of the UK while doing what I love. I love to tour and I have been very fortunate to see many parts of the UK, more than many natives! So Buxton will soon be a joyous addition to that list of towns I have been lucky enough to see. To book tickets, just click on any of the highlighted 'Hamlet's or use this link: http://www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/whats-on/hamlet-in-pooles-cavern Rumours are it usually sells out, so better get them earlier rather than later!