I always say that I'm a physical actress; using my body works a whole lot better than using my mind; working from the outside-in instead of inside-out is the way to go; physical action subtext is my key to success, and yet I never remember to use it! Sometimes I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm lucky enough to have found out what works for me but apparently I'm stupid enough to not apply it. Sometimes I just want to slap myself. Now that I've gotten that off my chest I can continue.
I made a discovery today: Blocking is important! I've always just brushed it off as being no big deal. Why does it matter if you cross right or left, stand up stage or downstage, as long as you're acting is good that's all that matters right? No. It was really my own ignorance. I didn't understand it (still don't) and couldn't do it (still can't) so I deemed it as unimportant. I still have the same exact knowledge about it as I did before (absolutely nothing), but now at least I appreciate it. Blocking is like the blue prints for a house. It provides a strong basis to work from, but it's not set in stone. It gives you a starting point that you can then build something beautiful with, but of course it shouldn't be the focus (if you hired a contractor to build you a house and in the end all they handed you back are the blue prints, you'd be pretty pissed). Most importantly though, without it no matter how hard you try, all you're left with is a flat piece of land and a pile of wood. That's what our scene has been up until now; a flat piece of land and a pile of wood. The blocking consisted of me sitting on the ground, and then sitting on a chair, and Kadambari sitting on a chair and standing up... and we were wondering why the scene sucked! The blocking illustrates the scene. It gives it color and life. Right now our blocking was sucking the life right out of it.
We started by creating the space. The scene takes place in the living room of an apartment building so we decided what it looked like. Where the couch, the door, the phonograph player, and the menagerie case are. This gave us a basis upon which to build off of. As an actress I can sort of feel my way through a scene. I can tell when I should move from point A to point B, wen I should stand or sit, but I have a hard time giving an explanation for it. I also lack detail I can tell you in general when I should move where, but I can't really give you an exact time and place. I think this is because I am more of an actress than a director. Who knows, maybe if I tried I may find I could do it, but I don't posses that intrinsic instinct, like Grace does. There is a line I say, : I couldn't face it". I had been delivering the line while standing up tall and straight looking right at Kadambari. Grace had a suggestion. Since I'm saying I can't face her, why don't I literally turn away from her? It's funny how something so logical never occurred to me. So I tried it, and guess what? The line transformed. It instantly gained a level of reality and believability. I know it sounds silly-it's just one line- but it felt so good. It felt so natural. All I had to do was move my body, I didn't have to think about anything. Like I've said before, thinking is my worst enemy. When I allow my body to do the thinking instead of my brain is when I'm the most successful. Which brings me back to the blocking. I never knew how much it could help my acting. It's not just physical action subtext that works, it's actual physical action. Makes sense right?
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