This first week we've been busy taking classes (among other things). It was quite an experience. Our first teacher, Saxon, was quite a revelation - quite a ride. It showed that she really loves teaching and kept on teaching until two in the morning. We came back on another day to finish it off! Talking about dedication! We ruined her schedule, her social life and probably her marriage... But we learned a lot.
The idea behind Saxon's classes was that we simply absorb ourselves in the story to create the character. Rather than using substitution, we used our imagination to make the story real. As Saxon put it: "imagination is larger than life!". On day two, we added in an extra dimension, which was to put the focus on the other person in the "conversation" (scene), as without the other person, there is no story.
That was very liberating, especially for the British and Dutch actors, because they hadn't been taught that way. It took away the pressure to perform and we could just "be" and live the life of the character. This may sound very straight-forward, but it went against a lot of the training we'd already had. It was a very new approach for us.
We put the "conversation" on camera twice. The first was just a cold read (without having been told all of this) and the second one at the end of the session. The differences were astounding! We all saw a big improvement in our performances. The 11 people in our group are all very supportive, open and willing to learn. We're happy to say that there are a couple of close friendships forming.
The picture you see was taking after our last class with some of the actors. Saxon is in the back row on the right.
The idea behind Saxon's classes was that we simply absorb ourselves in the story to create the character. Rather than using substitution, we used our imagination to make the story real. As Saxon put it: "imagination is larger than life!". On day two, we added in an extra dimension, which was to put the focus on the other person in the "conversation" (scene), as without the other person, there is no story.
That was very liberating, especially for the British and Dutch actors, because they hadn't been taught that way. It took away the pressure to perform and we could just "be" and live the life of the character. This may sound very straight-forward, but it went against a lot of the training we'd already had. It was a very new approach for us.
We put the "conversation" on camera twice. The first was just a cold read (without having been told all of this) and the second one at the end of the session. The differences were astounding! We all saw a big improvement in our performances. The 11 people in our group are all very supportive, open and willing to learn. We're happy to say that there are a couple of close friendships forming.
The picture you see was taking after our last class with some of the actors. Saxon is in the back row on the right.
Last night we went to the Improv on Melrose Avenue, just around the corner from us. It's a comedy club. There were about 5 or 6 different comedians, each with a different approach and it was great to see stand-up performed American-style. It was great for them to see partying European-style, because by the end, all of our party were dancing in the aisles... The picture shows Margie, Anouska, Kenan and Peter.
