Yearly Acting Review
At the end of each year
Instead of coming up with some new year acting resolutions
Which usually include a bunch of shoulds instead of wants
Examples include:
“I should get a main role in a great TV series or film”
“I should warm up my voice and body for one hour every day”
“I should go to class twice a week”
“I should practice a self tape every day”
And my personal favourite:
“I should read one play every week to be a good little actor”
Sidenote
If an actor doesn’t have goals to be working in the theatre
Why are they allocating time & energy trying to develop theatre skills by reading plays when they don’t actually enjoy reading plays?
An incredible old teacher of mine at drama school told me to
“Give a play ten pages
And if you don’t feel genuinely excited about turning to page eleven
Close it”
That’s some damn wonderful advice from a very smart old artist
We work too damn hard in this industry
And make too many damn sacrifices
We may as well create space to actually enjoy what we do!
ANYWAY
Instead of these kinds of New Years resolutions
To help me learn from the past year & guide me into the year ahead
I do a Yearly Acting Review which is based off my body
Why my body?
Because Mother Nature is in charge
There is not a manmade thing on this earth she can’t destroy whenever she wants
We all come from her
And we will all return to her
So better to be with her than against her
Millions of years of biology have gotten us to this point
So I’m pretty sure she knows what she’s doing
And damn sure the most exhausting moments in my life have been when I have tried my hardest to ignore the signals my body is sending me
Maybe better to let her lead
Okay
Here we go
Yearly Acting Review
Requirements?
Some private time & space
Paper & Pen
Maybe some music or a favourite beverage?
And If you keep a calendar or schedule this will be immensely helpful
Step One
Write down all the things your body found to be energising over the past year
The friends, colleagues, coaches, teachers, books, activities, environments, events, etc
That made your body feel light, excited, awake, exhilarated, free, love, growth, play, joy, bliss, alive, etc
Step Two
Out of all those energising things
Circle the (roughly) 20% that were the most energising
So if you wrote down twenty energising things
Circle roughly four that were the most energising
Curious
Step Three
Now write down all the things your body found to be de-energising over the past year
The people, colleagues, coaches, teachers, books, activities, environments, events, etc
That made your body feel heavy, tight, lethargic, stuck, anxious, locked, exhausted, etc
Step Four
Out of all those de-energising things
Circle the (roughly) 20% that were the most de-energising
So if you wrote down twenty five de-energising things
Circle roughly five that were the most de-energising
Curious
Now…
There might be some very interesting insights coming your way already
But let’s use this info to create change
Step Five
Time to replace the most de-energising things with the most energising
The key is to start now
Book it in
Send the text
Organise the time
Click send
Invite that person
Reach out to that friend
Ask that mentor
Schedule that event
Pay for it
Put that activity in the calendar
Just take action in some way shape or form
One little step at a time
Nothing will come from nothing
And every action has a reaction
Make it easy for yourself to show up to that which makes your work and life worth it
The goal here is to essentially let your body lead in a very practical way
To allow your bodies energy to flow in the direction it wants
If it wants more of those people, environments, activities etc
Give it to it
An incredible coach of mine once said to me
“Mike, the easiest energy is yours”
And I wholeheartedly agree
Acting has never flowed for me more than when I move in the direction my body wants me to go
Rather than trying exhaustively to push against it
I really hope this helps
X