Tackling Text [and subtext]: A Step-by-Step Guide for Actors

Barbara Houseman

TACKLING TEXT

[AND SUBTEXT]

A Step-by-Step Guide for Actors

Foreword by Daniel Radcliffe

Preface by Kenneth Branagh

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Dedication

Foreword by Daniel Radcliffe

Preface by Kenneth Branagh

Acknowledgements

PART ONE

INTRODUCTION AND BASICS

WHY READ THIS BOOK?

How This Book Can Help You

WHERE DO I START?

The Basics

ARE THERE ANY GOLDEN RULES?

The Three Connections

PART TWO

TEXT

WHAT DO I SAY AND HOW DO I SAY IT?

Handling Modern Text

AND HOW THE HELL DO I SAY THIS?

Handling Classical Text

PART THREE

SUBTEXT

WHO AM I?

Building Your Character

WHERE AM I AND WHEN?

Establishing Time and Place

WHAT DO I WANT?

Identifying Your Character’s Objectives

WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON BEFORE?

Fleshing Out the Back Story

WHAT’S GOING ON NOW?

Exploring the Internal Dynamics of a Scene

PART FOUR

HELPFUL EXTRAS

HOW DO I STOP SABOTAGING MYSELF?

Dealing with the Inner Critic

HOW DO I SHARE THE WORK TRUTHFULLY?

Transferring from Rehearsal to Performance

HOW DO I CONVINCE THEM?

Handling Auditions and Castings

WHAT DO I DO WHEN . . . ?

Troubleshooting

CONCLUSION

APPENDICES

AND WHAT ABOUT . . . ?

Extra Notes on Classical Text

AND WHERE WILL I FIND THAT?

The Exercise Finder

Endnotes

Index

About the Author

Copyright Information

To my parents

who have wholeheartedly supported me throughout my career

Foreword

When I was offered the role of Alan Strang in Equus, one of the biggest hurdles I knew I would face was being able to cope vocally with eight emotionally charged perfomances a week, and it was suggested that I work with Barbara Houseman.

We started working together eighteen months before I set foot in the rehearsal room, and working with her was a complete joy! It was an intense, exciting and challenging time for me, developing a technique that would help me, not just with Equus, but in my long-term career.

Barbara is a passionate teacher and, as an actor new to the stage, there was no better person to be working with on this first venture in the theatre. She is an inspiring teacher, and I left every session stimulated with the new discoveries we had made, marrying vocal technique with the text we had been working on. Vocal skill is an ongoing process, and I continue to work with her, as I find her a hugely motivating force in my work.

Daniel Radcliffe

Preface

If you want to improve as an actor, read this book. Do what it tells you. Simple as that. I have worked as an actor for twenty-seven years and here are some observations.

Actors need to stay sharp. When working or not working. Inside or outside the rehearsal room. On stage, screen, on radio, and especially when unemployed.

When we are employed, we don’t always have the help of a Great Director.

Thankfully, we now have the help of this book. It articulates the advice I was given many years ago by a wise old actor, and which I have happily passed on ever since. When in trouble with a role or, more fundamentally, with the very process of acting, go back to the text – or find a text – and look at it anew. The way to refresh your imagination will be in the text and in the way you tackle it.

Easier said than done? Not any more. You have a friend in these pages.

I have worked with Barbara Houseman and know that her techniques and suggestions all come from long-term practical experience at the highest level. They will show you how to release your imagination, and make genuine improvements. The book also heads off that sometimes fierce and deeply unhelpful inner critic which can sabotage the best efforts. You can say farewell to that kind of useless negativity, particularly at auditions and castings, where the advice set down here should have a remarkable effect.

Best of all, this book helps restore the hard work of the actor as fresh, playful and fun, and puts the ownership of that process firmly in the best hands – the artists themselves. I consult it frequently myself and happily recommend it to you. Have fun!

Kenneth Branagh

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all the actors I have worked with over the years. It was looking for ways to enable them that led to the development of the exercises in this book.

My husband, Mark Bauwens, made excellent suggestions regarding the order, which enabled the book to flow far more smoothly.

Tom Lewis patiently read through the manuscript twice and gave me a great deal of valuable feedback about how the book related to his experience of my work.

Nick Hern edited the book with a care, precision, sensitivity and patience which brought the manuscript together into a coherent whole.

Matt Applewhite offered invaluable assistance in pulling the book together so that it was clear and uncluttered.

Robin Booth, Jodi Gray and Tamara von Werthern were a fount of enthusiastic suggestions regarding possible pieces for inclusion in the modern text chapter.

Daniel Radcliffe and Kenneth Branagh both took the time out of their busy schedules to write the Foreward and Preface. I am grateful for their generosity in doing so. I have found them both, in their own ways, a great inspiration to work with.

Mike Alfreds was one of my earliest professional influences. I assisted him on Gogol’s Marriage in the 1980s and he was an inspiration in many ways. From him I learnt to be specific, that every moment mattered. I also learnt about the importance of keeping the work fresh and spontaneous by discovering moment by moment on stage. Finally, I learnt that specificity and spontaneity require a great deal of detailed preparation in rehearsal – in other words, the freer you wanted to be, the more carefully you needed to prepare. Mike has always been very generous in his support – willing to take the time to talk about what he is doing and why; and to offer advice when it’s asked for. His generosity and his ability to talk eloquently and lucidly about his work continue to be something I value on those rare occasions when we meet. His book Different Every Night takes you through his rehearsal process and is well worth reading.

Cicely Berry was a later influence. I had the good fortune to work with her for six years at the RSC in the 1990s and again she was a great inspiration. She has had an immense influence on the way in which directors and actors approach text: making the work, on classical text especially, less reverent and more robust and alive. Watching her and working alongside her answered so many questions and provoked many new ones. If you have not read her books Voice and the Actor, The Actor and the Text, Text in Action and From Word to Play, then seek them out; they are well worth the effort.

From watching Cicely and hearing about her work with Peter Brook, during his time as a director at the RSC, I came to understand how the detail and complexity of both text and subtext – words and internal dynamics – could be explored physically and so be brought to life for an actor in a simple and effective way. Every aspect of the play – language, thought, feeling, character, relationship and situation – can be explored tangibly and so lead to work that is simple and clear and yet contains all the complexity and subtlety of life.

Sonia Moriceau and Marshall Rosenberg have both had a profound influence on my work and yet neither of them is involved in the theatre. Sonia is a Shiatsu and meditation teacher¹ and Marshall is a clinical psychologist who has developed what he calls non-violent communication:² that is, speaking to oneself and others in a way that is non-judgemental and which is more proactive than reactive. From them I have learnt a great deal about ways of working that are more positive: how to work without judgement and fear and yet with rigour and detail.

Barbara Houseman

The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to quote from the following:

Reunion by David Mamet, published by Methuen Drama, an imprint of A&C Black Publishers Ltd.

All My Sons by Arthur Miller, copyright © 1947, Arthur Miller; reproduced by kind permission of the Wylie Agency; all rights reserved.

The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, and ‘The Horses’ by Ted Hughes, both published by Faber and Faber Ltd.

The Way Home by Chloë Moss, Orestes: Blood and Light by Helen Edmundson, Notes on Falling Leaves by Ayub Khan-Din, Shimmer by Linda McLean, Mojo by Jez Butterworth, A Mouthful of Birds by Caryl Churchill and David Lan, and The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, translated by Stephen Mulrine, all published by Nick Hern Books Ltd.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any has been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to receive information and make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

PART ONE

Introduction and Basics

Why Read This Book?

HOW THIS BOOK CAN HELP YOU

Why read this book? Firstly, because it is full of practical exercises to help you explore text, character and situation. These exercises have been developed through working with actors of all ages and experiences over many years.

Secondly, because you can use the exercises in this book outside the rehearsal room to support and deepen your work with a director. You can also use them when preparing for auditions and castings – whether for stage, television or film. They will enable you to become more self-sufficient and more certain of accessing your best work, whatever the situation and however great the pressure you’re under.

Thirdly, this book also explores issues such as building confidence; dealing with criticism; handling auditions and castings; moving from rehearsal space to performance space; and offers simple yet effective tools for overcoming any problems that may arise in these areas.

Tangible Exploration

At the heart of this book is the idea of discovering by doing: getting on your feet and exploring text, character and situation physically. No specific physical skill is necessary for any of the exercises; however, you will find that by working in this way you will gain a great deal of physical confidence and freedom. You will also find that it is a much easier and more concrete way of working, which enables a far more detailed and subtle connection with both the text and subtext. The exercises allow you to have a much more direct relationship with whatever play, scene or speech you are working on and, as a result, to feel far more in charge of what you are doing and more able to solve issues for yourself.

Layering

Another important aspect of this work is the idea of layering: in other words, focusing on one element of text, character or situation at a time, then letting go of that element and trusting that you will remember what you have learnt and will be able to put it together with everything else you have discovered. This allows you to go more deeply into each element; and the resulting mix, because it is achieved unconsciously, is richer and more exciting than any conscious mixing would be. It is also far easier to achieve and much more fun!

Noticing

Every exercise in this book is designed to raise your awareness, to enable you to notice what is there. This awareness has three benefits. Firstly, it allows you to be far more self-sufficient, because you don’t need to wait for others to point things out to you. Secondly, it allows you to connect more deeply because you are making discoveries for yourself and so they have a much greater significance for you. Thirdly, it allows you to be far more specific and detailed, which in turn allows you to produce work that is more truthful and original both for you and the audience.

Essential Information

Two essential sets of rules allow you to navigate your way through any situation in life: situational rules and personal rules. Situational rules deal with what is acceptable in any given situation: it is not acceptable to walk down the street without any clothes on – unless you are in a nudist camp; or to drive on whichever side of the road you feel like; or to visit someone’s home and help yourself to their possessions. Your personal rules deal with what you feel is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour for yourself: whether it is alright, or not, to shout or cry in public, or even at all; how much personal information you share with people on first meeting; whether or not it’s alright to be physically affectionate in public and so on.

Since you are expert at improvising your way through life based on these two sets of rules it makes sense that if you can identify the personal rules of any character, and the rules of each situation in which that character finds him/herself, you will have the essential information you need to navigate your way through any play. All the work in this book is designed to help you identify these rules – especially where they are different from your own and from the rules of the situations you are used to. Throughout, you will be encouraged to ask the essential question, described below, as a way of shifting away from yourself and your own situations, whilst at the same time making use of all the experience you have as a human being.

Essential Question

It was Stanislavsky who pointed out the power of an actor behaving as if they were a certain person in a certain situation. He argued, as an example, that if you asked someone to ‘be a tree’ he/she may well go ahead and attempt to do this, but his/her brain would be saying: ‘But I’m not a tree.’ On the other hand, if you asked someone to behave as if he/she were a tree, then his/her brain would have no problem with this. The as if makes all the difference.

The essential question linked to as if is ‘What if . . . ?’: ‘What if these were my words? What if this were my rhythm? What if this was what was important to me? What if this was the situation I found myself in?’ ‘What if . . . ?’ kick-starts your imagination and sends it searching for the crucial information needed to connect with any role – whether in terms of text or subtext.

Text and Subtext

Text is what is said. Subtext is what lies under and between what is said; it is expressed by body language, tone of voice and moments of silence. Text and subtext each inform the other and it is vital that both are equally explored. I always start with text work because it is the most tangible and because it is what the writer principally gives us – the subtext is implied by the text. By starting with the text you can be sure that you honour the voice of the author: that you tune in to his/her style. As John Gielgud said: ‘Style is knowing what play you’re in.’ Text is rather like the framework around which everything else is built and it is much easier to access the subtext once that frame is in place.

It is sometimes said that there is no subtext in Shakespeare and other classical text: that the action happens on the lines rather than between them. While it is true that much more of what characters are thinking and feeling is expressed in words in classical text, this does not mean that subtext disappears altogether; it is still there, underneath, informing the text and needs to be explored. Equally, it is sometimes said that text is less important in modern plays: that what happens in between and under the text is more important. Again, it is true that there is often a shift in balance so that more of what the characters are thinking and feeling may be expressed non-verbally; however, the text is still there and, with any good writer, it will have been well crafted – in terms of sound and rhythm as well as sense. It is not a question of any old words will do. So it is important to explore both text and subtext fully, whatever play you are working on.

Technique versus Instinct – Leonardo’s noses!

Technique and instinct often seem to sit very uneasily together for actors. For some, technique is the enemy: they fear that it will make them less spontaneous and truthful, more showy and set. For others, technique is their cornerstone, giving them shape and structure: they see relying on instinct alone as messy and even dangerous. However, when technique and instinct work together well, they give the actor the best of both worlds. It is a question of timing. When an actor is on stage performing, the audience need him or her to be moving through the play moment by moment, responding instinctively to what is happening around them. Only in this way can the audience truly be taken on a journey themselves. In order, however, for the actor to let go and trust his/her instinct on stage, technique does need to be applied in the preparation period. Now each actor’s technique may be very different – it may not even look like a technique from the outside – but it involves some kind of detailed exploration of the components – internal and external – that contribute to the whole: whether that be in terms of exploring text, character, situation or journey within the play, or preparing the body and voice.

A story about the artist Leonardo da Vinci may help to illustrate what I mean. Apparently, as part of his practice, he drew all the different noses, mouths and eyes he came across – he even numbered them! However, when he came to draw or paint a portrait he didn’t consciously think: ‘Ah, nose number 5, mouth number 3, eyes number 6.’ He responded in the moment to what he saw in front of him. However, the fact that he had spent time noticing and exploring individual parts meant that he had a vast store of detail that could support him as he worked instinctively on the whole.

In this way, technique, which could also be called exploratory preparation, becomes a framework for freedom within which your instinct can flourish securely. This is the core intention of this book: to give you a way of preparing that frees you in performance to be utterly present and respond instinctively to what is happening around you.

On the subject of frameworks, the next chapter sets out the basics, which can provide a firm foundation for all work on text and subtext, whilst this chapter ends with suggestions on the different ways in which this book can be used and hints as to the most enjoyable and effective way to work with the exercises.

A Note About Learning

Did you know that there are four stages of learning?³

1. Unconscious incompetence

2. Conscious incompetence

3. Conscious competence

4. Unconscious competence

Stage One is to a degree a blissful state of ignorance, although it may be frustrating in that we have a sense that things are not as we want them.

Stage Two can be very uncomfortable: now we know what we don’t know and this is often the stage where people give up, especially if they are lacking in confidence. Yet it is a necessary part of the learning process and not a sign that we lack the ability to acquire whatever skill is involved.

Stage Three requires all our attention: in other words, in order to achieve whatever it is we are focusing on we have to concentrate on that to the exclusion of everything else. This is often the point at which an actor will cry: ‘I can’t do this on stage!’ The answer to this is: ‘Of course you can’t.’ However, by taking the time offstage, in order to focus consciously on whatever behaviour or habit you want to establish, you will, in time, be able do it unconsciously on stage – and you will have reached Stage Four: unconscious competence. So be prepared to spend time in Stages Two and Three, knowing that this is where the learning takes place.

Using this Book

You can use this book in various ways depending on what you wish to achieve. You can work through it from beginning to end if you want an overview of the whole process before customising it to fit your own way of working. You can consult individual chapters to fill in gaps in your knowledge and experience. You can go straight to the troubleshooting section if there are specific issues that you want to address. The Index will also help you to find exercises and information on particular areas of work. However you choose to use this book, trust your instincts and I’m sure you will find what you need.

Some Helpful Hints

bull Do the exercises rather than just reading them through – this is the only way they will work! Knowledge is only rumour until it’s in the muscle .

bull Work with curiosity and a sense of humour; play and enjoy yourself. You’ll learn more that way .

bull If it’s difficult, that’s fine: it means you’re learning something new, so celebrate .

bull There’s no point practising what you can do already!

bull Let go of striving to achieve and certainly forget about perfection. Just do the work and the results will come by themselves .

bull Pay attention and avoid mindless repetition .

bull Focus only on one exercise at a time, trusting that what you learn will be remembered .

bull Use your common sense, and trust that if you have explored the exercises thoroughly with commitment and openness you will learn what you need to learn .

Where Do I Start?

THE BASICS

What are the underlying essentials that enable your individual talent to flourish? Firstly, the ability to produce your best work whatever the circumstances: to establish what I call your ‘Creative Bubble’. Secondly, the ability to empathise deeply with character and situation: to develop and use your imagination to step away from yourself and your world into the character and their world. Thirdly, the ability to communicate your thoughts and feelings to the audience effectively: to develop your body and voice so they can easily and powerfully express text and subtext.

ESTABLISHING YOUR ‘CREATIVE BUBBLE’

Your ‘Creative Bubble’ allows you to work well under pressure, whether this pressure is coming from yourself or others. It removes the fear and judgement that may close you down and so enables you to remain open and responsive to your own instincts and to the input of the director.

The exercises below all contribute to establishing the ‘Creative Bubble’. They are about learning how to access the natural ease, confidence and poise you have when you feel good about yourself and your work, so that you can click into that state at any time, no matter how stressful the situation.

Centring

To enable you to feel secure and relaxed

I am sure you know only too well what happens to you in stressful situations: muscles tense up – especially around the stomach, shoulders and jaw – and your breath becomes shallow or even held. Your body is in defence mode, and as you seize up physically you also tend to seize up mentally. So what can you do about it? By learning how to centre yourself you can undo the physical tensions and release your breath and so release your mind. You may still feel somewhat nervous or uncomfortable about the situation, but because you have relaxed your body and released your breath you will be able to operate more effectively.

Exploring Your Un-centred State

It’s useful to explore what specifically happens to you in stressful situations. Often there is a particular part of the body that is at the core of your tension. If you can work out which part that is and learn to release it you will be able to relax and centre yourself more rapidly.

bull Recall a time when you felt stressed. See what you saw, hear what you heard and feel what you felt .

bull Notice where in your body you hold your tension in that situation – feet, knees, buttocks, belly, back, chest, shoulders, neck, jaw, arms, hands – maybe all of the above!

bull What happens to your breath? Is it higher in the body and faster? Or are you holding your breath completely?

bull Is there anything else you notice?

bull Shake out or stretch to let go of the stressful situation .

Below are two ways of centring. In the first you simply imagine each part of the body relaxing. In the second you use an image to help the body relax. Some people prefer one; some the other; some like to use a combination of the two. Try both for yourself and then make up your mind what works for you.

Stage One

bull Stand with your feet directly under your hips and allow the soles of your feet to relax and your toes to spread .

bull Relax your legs: checking that your ankle, knee and hip joints are loose .

bull Relax your buttocks and belly .

bull Focus on your spine, which runs through your body from your tail bone to the top of your neck .

bull Imagine it lengthening – down towards the floor and up towards the ceiling – so that it can support you as the muscles in your back and neck relax .

bull Imagine your head balancing freely on top of your spine .

bull Let your chest and shoulders relax as your shoulder blades drop down your back .

bull Let your arms and hands hang heavy .

bull Again, imagine the spine lengthening and the head balancing freely on it .

bull Let your face relax – especially your eyes, lips, tongue and jaw .

bull Rest in this position for a minute or two, deepening the relaxation in each part of your body .

bull Notice how you feel – physically and mentally .

You may feel heavier in your lower body, more stable and more aware of your legs and feet. You may also feel calmer, more at ease and notice that your breathing is slower and deeper.

Stage Two

bull Stand as above .

bull Imagine that you have an hourglass inside you. Imagine that the top of the hourglass is level with the top of your head and the bottom is resting deep in your pelvis .

bull Imagine that the sand in the hourglass is gently pouring down and settling into and spreading across the base, which rests in your pelvis .

bull Once you have imagined the sand settling, then imagine it pouring down your legs into your feet and turning into roots that enter the ground .

bull Imagine the roots going deep into the ground – 3, 6, 9 metres [ 10, 20, 30 feet ].

bull Rest in this position for a minute or two, continuing to imagine the roots going deep .

bull Notice how you feel physically and mentally .

Again, you may notice that the lower body feels more stable and that the breath is deeper.

Once you have established which method or combination of methods is most effective for you, it is simply a matter of practising regularly so that when you are next in a stressful situation it is easy to access your centred state. It is useful to practise when travelling on public transport and standing in queues: firstly, because it doesn’t take up any extra time; and secondly, because travelling and queuing are often frustrating and, therefore, stressful situations and so good opportunities to practise dispelling tension.

What you are aiming for is to be centred for as much of the time as possible. To get to this point it is important that you notice as soon as you are uncentred and that you stop and take the time to re-centre, rather than just carrying on regardless. The more you do this, the quicker being centred will be your habitual state and the easier you will find it to access that state in times of stress.

Note: Obviously, not all the characters you play will be centred. However, if you have built up a habit of being centred, you will be able to keep that sense of inner stability and security underneath any ungrounded character you are playing without having to think about it. The advantage to you is that you will be able to play the character with greater flexibility, subtlety and control.

Backward Circle

To be able to stay centred in action

You may find that you can centre before you start a pressured rehearsal or performance but that it is hard to stay centred during it. This next exercise – which is based on a Tai Chi movement – is superb for dealing with this problem and also for reconnecting you emotionally and vocally. If you practise it regularly you will find that you will be able to come back to centre much more easily, however frenzied things around you become. Also, you will be able to perform with much greater ease, which will be less tiring for you and more engaging for the audience.

Ideally you practise this exercise with a speech or scene you want to work on, but we are going to start with the physical movement alone so you can feel the difference it makes to your body, breath and mind.

Practising the Backward Circle

bull Stand or sit, as you prefer, with your feet hip-width apart and resting on the floor .

bull Start with your hands resting on your thighs near your hips. Move your hands out in front of you as far as they will go, then, bring them up to shoulder level, and then in towards your shoulders and down the front of your body until they are back where you started .

bull Repeat this Backward Circle several times, noticing what happens to your body, breath and mind .

How did you find that? Not everyone notices a difference immediately. However, once the exercise starts to work you will notice that your body becomes more relaxed, that your breath is deeper and slower and that you feel less rushed.

bull Circle several times in the other direction, i.e. a Forward Circle, to feel the difference .

You may feel the energy rising higher in the body, taking tension up into the shoulders and breath into the chest. You may also have a feeling of rushing, of almost toppling forward. This energy is to be avoided, since it will