Personal Private Moment
PRIVATE MOMENT
“Stanislavski observed that, in the truest
performances, the actor creates the illusion that his character is alone and
unobserved. He's being private in public. Lee Strasberg was particularly
inspired by Stanislavski's concept of ‘public solitude,’ so much so that he
developed an exercise that would prepare and accustom the actor to being
private in public. Strasberg called his invention the Private Moment.” --Susan
Batson
The Private Moment
When we are in public, we have to put on a
mask or cover when we deal with people. Otherwise they would see all of our
true feelings. It is only when we are alone that we allow ourselves to take off
the mask. In this exercise, we work to create a place where we are most
private. This means bringing in items that help you to create the place so
that your belief system can work there. We also work to create the sense of
privacy there. As the actor, you want to choose three activities that are very
private, that you would only do if no one else were around. In the exercise,
you are working to create a strong sense of privacy. Give yourself a moment before that would make
you want or need privacy. In your homework, really ask yourself when you
need privacy the most in your life, and what you do when you finally get it?
Remember always to breathe. When you
are ready, allow your relationship with the place and your life there to have
priority. When you go to the first private activity, enter into a relationship
with that object or activity—use it the way you would in private. Let it inform
you. Maybe you stick with it or maybe once you have explored using it with
privacy, then let it go. In the exercise, enter the second private activity
whenever you wish, and see what it does for you, then let it go and try the
third. You are looking to see if, as an actor, you can truly have a moment
or moments on stage when you engage in what is private for you in public.
When I was (much) younger, I played air
guitar to my favorite rock song—in total privacy. I had never done that in
front of people before. I turned the
music on and blasted it. I have seen in class an actress getting ready to go
out on a date and sitting in front of a mirror, dealing with what she sees, and
trying to look good for someone else. The mirror can be essential, for
it allows you to enter into a private relationship with yourself onstage. The
mirror can be used in your private moment, it is imaginary and placed on the
fourth wall. The use of the mirror is a great activity to enter into in
your work.
After doing this exercise, you will find it
can be used effectively for developing any character. Specifying and exploring
the character in his or her true privacy. Finding a character's private moment
can translate directly into your work. This has been done by many actors. An
example of a private moment on screen is Robert De Niro, “You talking to me?” in
Taxi Driver. De Niro said that this private moment was inspired by Marlon Brando’s
private moment in the mirror in “Reflections in a Golden Eye.” Tatum O’ Neal
had a private moment in “Paper Moon, “ she had been left alone in a hotel room.
She looks in the mirror and talks to herself. There are private moments often
found on film, when a character is left alone, they reveal what is really going
on, and they do this through their relationship to the place, and to objects, activities
and behaviors that they would not do if anyone else walked in the room.
I saw the exercise done by an actor in class
playing an alcoholic character, the character was deeply in need of a drink but
his only bottle was now empty. He entered his room and saw his one remaining bottle.
The character tried at first to avoid it, but wherever in the room he went, his
eyes fell on that bottle. The privacy of his need for what was once in
that bottle was undeniable. The bottle was empty and only its feel and smell
were available to him.
We might all have addictions of one kind or
another. What are your addictions? What is temptation for you? Do you let
yourself have them in private? This is one
place privacy can begin. The stakes start to build for us and the choices we
make reveal our humanity. Who are you when no one is around and you can drop
your “cover?” You might need someone but they aren’t there, you are on your own
to deal with you.
In working on this exercise, please be aware
that it is not to be performed (there is no obligation to the audience). It
does not involve any rehearsal. It is an exploration. I strongly suggest
music. You set up the place and objects, and you can help yourself a great deal
by making a playlist or bringing music that you listen to in private. I have
speakers if you need them. This music can play throughout the exercise. The
exercise will last for 15 minutes. Please do not end it yourself. I may see
something and allow it to continue a little longer. It is never judged. When you reach a point
where you feel like you are finished, you did it all- please stay in there and
stay committed. You can recommit to exploring your life there. I will stop it.
Sometimes in the moment we feel lost or finished, we let go of trying to please
(the teacher or the others).
When I teach I create an environment of
emotional safety. Please support your fellow actors and actresses.
The awareness of the audience is natural for
an actor and this exercise allows for that. It is a chance to make peace with
this awareness while we live selfishly in this exercise. An absolute forgetting
of the audience is not the goal, but our own attention on our life in our
privacy is where we can return to over and over. Our circle of attention can be
small, just on ourselves and our place or just ourselves and our object. There
is no performing for the audience or storytelling (narrating) needed in this
exercise. The audience does not need to understand. WE exist, we live, we want,
we try, we pursue, we stop, we start again. The work in this exploration is
purely selfish. It is the only exercise where we are given this absolute
freedom. We can talk to ourselves, sing outloud, move in any way we like.
As you consider your own comfort zone, let
your work take you beyond it, but only as much as you feel safe. This work directly
relates to our work on stage and on film. The actor who can present his
character in privacy has an opportunity to reveal to the audience his or her
humanity. Once you are able to do this, you can layer this privacy into on
camera moments and even in scenes with others. Letting ourselves be exposed
even a little bit (not protected by our mask). It happens only with
willingness, it happens when an actor is secure enough to reveal he/ she is
insecure.
At the Actors Studio, this exercise is
repeated until true privacy is achieved. This can take months. That is not our
purpose here. Here we begin and explore in order to see to what extent we are
able to create privacy for ourselves. Simply that. I use this exercise for
every character I play. I set myself up, I always choose music for the
character and I begin, I explore within this framework:
creation of place,
private music,
three private activities,
use of fourth wall,
and my human need.
At first this is a question: What is the
character’s need? I discover things about the character that I didn't know.
About what's really important to him. When I read or work on a script, there
comes a point where I need to get into action with a new character, but my
learning is all in my head thus far and I don’t really actually know them yet.
This exercise done at home is a creative first step, a forging of the internal
connection between myself and the writer’s character. And what I discover is my
secret, I build my foundation from here. I begin the process of taking ownership
in this way. It also honors choice-making that is not cerebral or analytical,
because the exercise leaves the exploration open to discovery. This openness
allows my creativity to create and to discover. Acting is doing. We need tools on
every step of our journey. The personal private moment is one tool. The
character private moment is another.
Things to avoid:
Avoid things that you
could do in front of someone else.
Avoid the casual.
It is suggested that
you don’t bring your computer or phone,
but you can if you
need to.
Texting or writing
can flatten out the need, and casualize our energy. Talking with someone else
on our phone or computer is not us in private, in solitude.
Even writing in a
journal can flatten out the need and casualize us.There is a time when writing
is need based, a love letter, a hate letter, something all pent up that stems
from need.
If it casualizes you,
you bypass any revelation of your need in privacy.
Just for the record:
no masturbation
No smoking or vaping.
In privacy we can
have intimacy. Intimacy is being emotionally present with ourselves. (Some
people say into-me-see). Intimacy is a very powerful tool on camera. The
ability to be emotionally present with ourselves on camera is different from
not having intimacy. When we lack intimacy, we may be two dimensional and with
it we can be three dimensional. It takes time and practice.
This exercise is the
most pure form I know of that allows the actor do this at home, in class, in a
hotel room, etc. Its portable and requires only what you choose to bring to it.
Taking risks is always suggested. Your commitment and your willingness to take
a risk in whatever way feels right for you- these bring growth beyond playing
it safe.
College students have
said to me: “I have no privacy, I share a dorm room.”
I always ask if they
have ever gone into the bathroom and locked the door and sat on the toilet seat
for a few minutes and stared in the mirror-
just to get away, just to have some privacy. They have always said yes.
The need for privacy is human and as long as no one else is in the room, we may
use that time to take the mask off.
- Establish
private place
- Bring
three private activities
- Bring
private music
- Explore
the life there—see where it takes you.
- Don’t
end it yourself.
Consider moments in your life when
you needed privacy the most, or when you protected your privacy.
Corey Parker/
coreyparkeractor.com
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