Don’t Run Before You Can Walk

… because you’ll end up flat on your face on the concrete.

Our understanding often bounds ahead of our actual ability to put that understanding into practice.

Over and over again, I see actors, inspired by our approach, rush to use it, only to fall on their faces.

Understanding it, and practising it as a habituated, unconscious competence, are two very different things.

But that’s a hard thing to hear. And you want to get out there and make your mark, I get it.

You have to serve your apprenticeship to become the master craftsman. The apprentice can make a chair after a relatively short time, but their boss makes a thing of beauty.

The trouble is that you can damage your reputation if you’re not ready. Is it worth it?

If you’re wondering if it’s time to run, you should ask someone. Someone you trust and listen to the answer.

It always saddens me when someone doesn’t complete their training with us because they are desperate to get out and prove themselves.

I understand. But this isn’t some money grabbing charlatan talking, this is someone who wants the best for each and every student, who wants you all to be the best actor you can be.

I think of my former student Joanne, who at 20 IS ready, her process is habituated, she’s highly competent, she’s ready and she’s working.

Then I think of those students attempting to work with half learned tools. How can you avoid doing a shoddy job.

Finish your training, serve your apprenticeship, raise your competence and then you’ll run with confidence and grace.

Until then, I don’t do band aids.