Yesterday in class we talked about something that happens “normal” repetition exercise when partners look intensely at each other. Â The habit, which is not at all a requirement of the exercise, becomes overwhelming to the point when we are not able to take in something about our partner if we don’t see it with our eyes.
To get the point of how rich and interesting behavior that isn’t visual can be, we had students do a repetition exercise through a closed door: each on one side of the door. All of a sudden, they were listening to small changes in intonation and word choice. Pauses took on special significance. The extra concentration the students had to put into listening made them loose their own inner monitor and allowed them to freely express themselves in the moment. And the exercise retained a lot of that flexibility and freedom when the pair worked then face to face.
It’s very good to embrace not only the visual but all 5 of the senses. The sense of touch (which I think also includes the sense of distance from someone and the tension that that can bring) is especially strong. Usually in an exercise, we don’t get to use our sense of taste that much, but it could come up and how interesting when it does! Smell is also one that we give short shrift to. And with bad smells, it really challenges our sense of what we can say or what we are allowed to admit about our partner.
Not only is moving beyond the need to stare at our partner a very good thing for the moment to moment work (it allows us to take in so much more information about the partner), it also gets us out of the problem some students face when they then have to work on stage and deal with an audience.
Being aware of the audience and being “open” to the audience (with your face visible to them) is extremely important for a stage actor. Being in visual contact with the audience is often more highly valued than being in visual contact with the other actors. It is not uncommon for actors to be having a conversation but instead of facing each other, they face the audience. In such cases, it is imperative that the actors are still taking in everything about their partner. They just aren’t able to do it with the sense of sight. Train your other senses, too!