EXERCISING YOUR ACTING MUSCLES
When you’re between jobs, especially for a prolonged period, it’s easy to let your talent grow rusty. StageMilk’s Andrew Hearle has some timely advice on keeping your skills razor sharp, so that if you were offered an audition tomorrow, you could say ‘yes’ with confidence.
One of the challenges of being an actor is staying motivated. It’s something I have struggled with throughout my career, and I’m sure I’m not alone. No matter how much we may love acting, it can be a tumultuous life, with soaring highs and devastating lows. We can go months, sometimes years, without working on our craft, so it’s easy for our skills to get rusty. The good news is that if you get back into a routine, and take a few simple steps, you can not only stay acting fit, but also continue to improve every day.
What are your goals?
If you want to become acting fit, you need to know exactly what you are training for. An ultra-marathon runner’s requirements are very different from a powerlifter’s. Most actors have vague career goals, leaving themselves open to the whims of the industry. Take time to investigate the kind of work you really want to do, and the types of stories you want to be involved in, and this will help when it comes to developing your acting skills.
Practising scenes and monologues
Once you have settled on your goals, the most important thing is to start working regularly on great text. In acting classes or at drama school, you are working on scenes and monologues all the time. But once out of these environments, many people stop doing this work. The best piece of advice I can offer is to pick up a script as soon as possible and get back to work. As previously mentioned, goals are important. If you’re mainly interested in film and television, focus on screen scenes and practise in the self-tape format. If you are more theatre-focused, work on texts from plays and explore some great monologues.
Note: If this idea appeals to you, aim to put down one scene or monologue on tape every three or four weeks. This might seem too easy and you’d prefer to do one every week, but in my experience few actors can maintain that discipline. Aiming for one every few weeks gives you a clear and manageable goal. If you are motivated, you can always do more, but never break that baseline. Just like exercising at the gym, it is way more beneficial to go a couple of times a week for a year than to go every day for a month and then stop.
The difficult thing is to stay accountable. You need to understand how to remain motivated and use that to your advantage. Some actors simply can’t do this work independently and need to collaborate with others. If that’s the case, see if you can team up with other passionate actors and commit to working on new scenes together. You can also choose to publicly commit by telling an agent, teacher or mentor that you will be sending them a tape every month. This can provide the incentive to stay the course. However you get there, see if you can commit to this for the next six months. Remember that it’s not about creating incredible, ground-breaking scenes, but simply getting back into a routine. You will probably do some terrible work, but each time you get up you will improve and build your confidence, and that’s what matters.
Reading out loud
My voice teacher at drama school told us that actors are the bastions of language, and that noble idea has stayed with me. Our job is to be interpreters of great text and to bring words to life. As the industry has become more and more visually obsessed, I believe we have lost this important connection with language. The best actors are able to be flexible with text; they find endless colour and nuance, and can effortlessly play with range, pitch, rhythm and tempo. The exciting thing is that this skill set can − and should − be developed.
I would recommend reading out loud every day. It could just be a monologue in the morning, or five to 10 minutes of a novel or poem before bed. I also strongly encourage you to read plays and screenplays out loud with friends. Can you get a reading group together each week or even once a month? Not only will this develop your cold reading skills, but it will also help build your confidence. Put simply: the more you do this work, the more natural and connected you become when performing different kinds of dialogue.
Voice and movement
There is a reason every acting school in the world spends a great deal of time focusing on voice and movement. These are tangible areas of your craft and must be developed if you want to achieve your full potential. We actors don’t have a violin or paintbrush − we are the instrument. Becoming physically and vocally expressive will be key to creating believable characters throughout your career, as well as finding comfort in performance. If you’re looking to get back on the acting roller coaster, you need to be working on both these elements daily. A simple vocal and physical warm-up will help you to develop your expression, and also allow you to feel grounded and relaxed in future auditions and performances.
Professional consumption
Improving as an actor isn’t just about doing; part of the way you develop is by consuming incredible content. Your fitness routine should include watching quality films and TV shows, and reading plays, poetry and novels as often as possible. You need to constantly fuel yourself as an artist. And here’s the trick: you are not just passively consuming; you’re consciously absorbing and learning from every new experience. For instance, when watching a great performance, ask yourself why the actor made that choice, observe how they are using props and eyelines, and generally try to study them. Loading up on this creative fuel and watching through a professional, analytical lens will give you so much to draw on in your own work.
Classes or mentorship
Paying for acting classes or a coach can be tough − I get it. Most of us are staying afloat through jobs that don’t exactly give us excess cash to splurge each week. But if you’re looking at getting back your acting fitness, and you know you struggle to keep self-motivated, a class is one of the best ways to stay sharp. Working with a trusted teacher or mentor who helps to keep you focused will be invaluable. Remember, though, you can work on all of these things independently, or with friends, so don’t underestimate how much you can improve without spending a single dollar. Also. keep an eye out for free offerings from The Equity Foundation, which organises incredible training programs at zero cost for Equity members.
Booking more acting work
If it was as easy as just booking more work, we would all be amazing, confident actors. I understand it isn’t quite so simple, but here’s the thing: if you haven’t had an acting gig in four to six months, you need to do something or you are at risk of getting seriously rusty. Firstly, get out there and connect with the industry. There are loads of ways to access local jobs and meet passionate creatives. Look for opportunities like independent theatre, short films, student films, web series and so on. Even if the finished product only gets three views, it will help develop your skills and rebuild your confidence. Secondly, modern technology has made it easy to create your own projects, so if you can’t find work, make it. The goal isn’t to win awards and get five-star reviews, but simply to be working again.
Note: If you are working on smaller productions, still make sure that everything is MEAA compliant. Just because the project is modest doesn’t mean you should be taken for a ride.
Why all this matters
As a professional, you are going to be up against actors who are auditioning numerous times a week and, in some cases, working back-to-back in TV, film and theatre. They are literally doing this every day and you cannot expect to compete with them with a half-hearted, part-time attitude. Every time you work your acting muscles, you improve, moving a little closer to your goals. So do the thing you love… act!
ANDREW HEARLE IS THE FOUNDER AND CEO OF STAGEMILK.COM, ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST ACTING RESOURCE WEBSITES, WHICH REACHES WELL OVER ONE MILLION ACTORS EVERY YEAR, HELPING TO EDUCATE AND EMPOWER THEM. HE HAS WORKED AS A PROFESSIONAL ACTOR ACROSS FILM, TV AND THEATRE. NOTABLE CREDITS INCLUDE SPORT FOR JOVE’S THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, BRISBANE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL’S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM AND, RECENTLY, LONG BLACK WITH STEPH TISDELL AND GABRIEL WILLIE. ANDREW HAS ALSO WORKED FOR MANY YEARS AS A DIRECTOR AND TEACHER.
