Ease and the Actor

I never liked the idea of relaxation for actors. It’s true that performing places horrible tensions on the actor but being relaxed seems only a good way to relieve tension. We do not want to be relaxed as such when we are preparing and giving our performance. We want an active state, this active state is called Ease.

When something is done with a feeling of ease, it is organic, fluid and flowing. It feels completely natural because you get entirely out of your own way. You do not become inhibited by mental or physical tension or resistance.

Stanislavsky and Strasberg both placed a great deal of emphasis on relaxation as an actor’s tool, but I’m not sure how practicable relaxation exercises are for future application. Even frequent practitioners of yoga, relaxation and meditation acknowledge that it takes time to get oneself into a relaxed state but this is neither useful to an actor warming up for a performance nor suitable to relieve tension during the performance. Tension cannot be willed away, nor can you take time out to change your state.

So how do you approach the achievement of a feeling of ease? To my mind it is centred around your attitude to several things.

Firstly, things that are artificial and not organic, attract more stress and tension. Habit can help by providing a way for new things to become natural.

Secondly, Mamet’s famous dictum offers us a great way to discover ease in our work. “invent nothing, deny nothing, accept everything”. Do not push, do not try to hard, do not invent. But be open, be vulnerable, be willing to see and seize opportunities that arise. Do not deny what happens or what you feel. Denying will lead to inner stress and outer manifestations of tension. Go with The Flow they say.

Lastly accept everything, decide what is within your control and what is not. Focus on those things that you have power to change and influence and you will be happier and more at ease with yourself.