Actors who study the Meisner Technique are likely familiar with the term the actors instrument. An analogy between an actor and an instrument is a good way to help define all the aspects of the acting craft and help actors take in idea, information and lines and put out high quality work. As an audience member, it becomes apparent very quickly who the good actors in a piece are or who might be falling short. But, can we pinpoint what makes us feel that way? In fact, it is the actors instrument and how well rounded and how well developed it is.
There are six aspects to consider when looking at the actors instrument. Those elements include emotional expression, sensory expression, physical expression, empathy and intelligence. In the Meisner technique, all aspects of the actors instrument need to be addressed and considered and are essential to mastering the craft. It is easy even for non actors to identify professional actors who have mastered the different aspects of their “instrument.” It is the true legends, the icons of stage and screen, that have mastered all six.
Sylvester Stallone is a physical actor who commands attention simply because of his physical presence onscreen. This doesn’t mean that he can’t express himself emotionally, it just means that his physical presence is the most developed of his acting tools. As an actor he expresses emotional in a very physical, often external way. It’s very important for actors to learn and develop all aspects of their instruments, to become well-rounded performers.
Emotional expression is one of the first things most up and coming actors focus on. Obsessing about how a character feels about something and how to express it is usually the primary thing actors concentrate on. One of the most important, but certainly not the only tool to master is the emotional expression aspect of the actors instrument. It’s important to remember, however, that each of the six aspects of the instrument are related and must be developed and work together.
Of course, it is meaningful emotional expression that draws people into any character or story. Emotional expression is they way that the internal aspects of a character’s conflicts, needs, and feelings are expressed. Meisner acting in nyc is very popular, and these actors work hard to develop an emotional composite of a character, which they in turn, figure out how to express using the other aspects of the instrument. Students of Meisner acting must study the range of human emotions in all their complexity. They in fact, build a library of emotions and reactions and methods for communicating them. When called upon to create a specific character, they dig very deep and create and imagine (another part of the instrument) what that character’s emotional story is. Having created a full emotional life and a foundation of behaviors, thoughts and ways of reacting, the actor can then bring the character to life, in the moment, in a spontaneous way.
Vulnerability, for example is an expression of the emotion of insecurity. Actors might work hard to develop this emotion and the complex ways it can be expressed. If the actor has also worked hard to develop other aspects of the instrument, such as imagination, sensory expression and intelligence, the complexity of emotions will be there. A single tear, without words can accomplish this, but how about a sense of vulnerability shown while one is smashing a clock to pieces? There is no predictable, safe way to do this.
One common myth is that acting is pretending to have certain emotions. However, acting is not simply reciting words using certain inflections and gestures to communicate emotions. As Sanford Meisner always said, Acting is DOING. You must be in the moment and allow emotional reactions and behaviors to appear, and you must follow them. Great acting is, moment by moment, opening up to the character and allowing them to take you places you may not have imagined. The best actors do not pretend to feel something, or coach themselves to do anything while in character. There are genuine emotions in their performances, often unpredictable ones that appear as they work as character. Developing a deep capacity to understand and feel the full range of human emotions and experiences is a great way to become an open, flexible acting student, the best kind of student. As an actor you must give yourself permission to feel fully and live truthfully, whether you are in character or not.
The Maggie Flanigan Studio provides acting classes in NYC for serious actors. Find out more about meisner acting at the studio website or read this article about acting instrument.