Cheap Effective Practice

In 2016

I started the year off with a bang

I was onstage at the Sydney Opera House

Working for Australia’s premier theatre company

Working on a play I adored (Arcadia)

By one of my favourite writers (Stoppard)

And playing a character I loved (Valentine)

The cast was insanely talented

The director was one of those directors that theatre actors both feared and dreamed of working with

And I had an incredible coach supporting me the whole time

It was a gorgeous period of my life

I needed it

My previous theatre experience had been marred

And I deeply wanted to turn the ship around on this one

So when opening night came

And I gave the work I wanted to

Plus was kind to myself when I slipped up

Plus had fun with great actors

Man

I put my head on the pillow and fell asleep pretty damn easily

But as wonderful as it all was…

I had an itch

It was small at first

But after about 45 shows

I remember really wanting to scratch it

The itch was screen acting

At that time

I had spent over a decade working on theatre

And there was a seed underneath my skin desperate to grow

So when the next theatre audition came through

I decided to listen to my body and say “no” in order to create space for a “yes”

First things first

I was pretty clear about the direction I wanted to head

I simply looked at all the scenes, actors, films that inspired me

What was the most important common denominator?

They all gave honest conversations on screen

That’s what I wanted to give

But how?

I felt there was a massive valley in between my current skill level and where I wanted to be

So the time came

Where I realised

The most important thing I could do

In order to increase my skill level on screen

Was reps

Reps reps reps

Cold hard time in front of the lens

Okay

How can I get reps?

A huge reason why acting is still important to this day

Is because we represent one of the key ingredients that allowed us to survive the last 200 000 years

Connection

Human connection

Therefore

We need others to practice

We need to sit opposite someone else and have a human connection with them in front of the lens

Now, at that time

I allocated a little bit of my piggy bank for training each month

But that was one night a week

And based off the books I was reading at the time

I knew that for actual skill development

I would benefit exponentially from 2-3 shorter sessions per week

Rather than one intense weekend workshop

Okay

2-3 shorter practice sessions per week

So, find somebody and practice

But who?

And where?

And for how long?

And do what, specifically?

This created a jam for me

The years after graduating NIDA

I can remember practicing or filming self tapes was a miserable affair

Often spending long hours doing take after take

Just slogging it out trying to make each line perfect

Repeating takes because I made one duff up

Or the practice time would be continually interrupted by phones

Or the other person would spend hours complaining about things outside of their control (the industry)

Or the lighting setup was terrible

Or my technical computer skills would mean everything electronic I touched instantaneously fell apart

Exhausting and frustrating

Simply de-energising

My experience practicing had been tainted

I wanted to be a bit smarter this time

So I tried something different

Energising Practice (30/45/45)

One

Find someone you feel energised around

Someone who’s curious, kind, honest, dedicated, respectful, open etc

Whatever floats your boat

Someone you resonate with

Someone your body says “hell yes” to.

Someone you feel excited about showing up to play with.

(If they ain’t energising, it ain’t gonna be sustainable)

Two

Book the time, place & setup

Wednesday at 14:00-16:00 at mine

A clear time

A clear place (where you can do deep work for 2 hours without getting distracted)

A clear step - good lighting/camera

Three

Show up

Phones on aeroplane mode

Put the timer on

30 minutes

Then check in

Include coffee and shnacks :)

Have a chat about what you both want out of your 45

How would you like to feel after practice?

What will you focus on to help you get three?

What’s the most important thing you would like to work on in the next 45?

And what the process that will help you improve it?

Four

Deep work

Each actor then gets 45 minutes

And which ever actor goes first

The other actor is there to wholeheartedly support and serve the actor on screen

Five

The debrief

In the last few minutes of your 45

Identify two things

Best Thing: What was the best thing about your practice? What did you feel good about, what worked? What do you think you did well?

(I don’t care how much you want to say “it all sucked and I’m terrible at acting”… try be objective and find something worth celebrating)

Ready For: What are you ready to work on next?

Where is the 1% improvement you are ready to work on next?

That’s it.

Doneskies!

30/45/45

Energising practice

Remember

If you can make things like practice, self taping, learning lines, etc

(The boring bits)

If you can make them energising

Addictive

Fun

You’ll want to keep going

And if you keep showing up

And keep making 1% improvement

Week after week

Month after month

Year after year

You’ll be bloody dangerous as an actor

Hope this helps

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