Last week I did something I had never done before, but I should have a long time ago.
I saw “Hamlet”. It’s actually hard to avoid the play in this day and age. But now I can finally make sense of the play “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead”. I’ve seen it several times, but I couldn’t help but feel some of it was lost on me. (I’m not sure but I think the performance of Hamlet I saw included a few extras to link it more closely with the “… are Dead” play.) Now I can understand all the Hamlet jokes people tell. (Not that there are a lot of them.)
I suppose my timing on seeing it was good, because this weekend I also took an acting course for the first time. I’ve been hip deep in improv courses, but I really have just been winging it when it comes to acting. I never even took it in high school.
I’m not sure how much I got from the course. The first part seemed to focus on improvising. I’d like to think I have that mostly down. Then the rest was more scripted. We were each given a part in a small section of some plays. Then we were to perform those parts. But the teacher never actually taught us how to perform. All I got was how to breath like the character, or walk like the character, or how to figure out the motivations of the character. Now I suppose those are all a good foundation for acting like the character, but I’m wondering if I am missing something. I never feel comfortable trying to portray strong emotions that I’m not familiar with. I’m not a very emotional person. No one has told me how to pretend plausibly that I am feeling a certain way.
I’m thinking of taking a season long course and hope that it gives me a better idea.