Aesthetic and Anaesthetic Acting

The traditionally trained actor exists neither in reaching outward to others, nor open to receiving from others, but instead sits inert waiting to utter.

To me, the actor must constantly be present in the act of reaching out to or accepting from others. They must not become still, they must not stop. They must be constantly moving between these places. None of this can be found in ‘acting it out’, as is the traditional duty of the actor.

The actor should be ready to accept, impressionable if you like, affectable is how some would describe it, but I do not wish to posit an emotional slant on this.

The actor is balancing acknowledging the truth of the moment around them with receiving the unexpected at all times. In both cases, as Hamlet says:

“The readiness is all”

But to be ready is not what the traditional actor is prepared for. The traditional actor is prepared for lively recitation, which connects neither inwardly not externally.

To be truly prepared, the actor must open their senses and allow their aesthetics to be affected by other actors, by the material, the space, the architecture, anything which occurs from outside us.

This kind of actor allows their aesthetic to receive, while seeking, looking hard at what is outside them.

The opposite of this, the traditionally trained actor who has been taught through ‘Private Moment’ exercises to shut out the audience, has not prepared to be aesthetic but to be anaesthetic, literally losing their sensitivity, or feeling.

We must be ready to receive, and endlessly seeking to give, this is a difficult place to be, and it is why this actor is captivating and the other, in the end is not.