The Great Acting Blog: "Man In A Box - Part 2"

Up until this week, the question I have been trying to answer in rehearsals for 66 Signs Of Neon is: “what the hell am I doing?”, or, put another way: “what is my action?” When working from a scripted text, it is a question of understanding literally what is happening in the scene, and then converting that understanding into an action that is meaningful to you as an actor. When building a piece through improvisation however, as we have been doing here, the actor doesn't have anything as concrete as a script to work from, only a bunch of ideas, and, therefore, he must invent the thing  before he can convert it into a meaningful action. Of course, when working from a scripted text, the inventing has already been done by the author. However, once that period of invention in improvisation has drawn to a close, the work is then very similar to when working on a script, which is to say; once the actor understands (or has at least made a choice about) what is happening, he then chooses a concrete action for himself, and practices doing the action until it becomes habitual, and then the actor can perform with full intensity, unlocking his own personality. That's where I'm at with 66 Signs Of Neon, the action is habitual and I no longer have to worry about it because it's working for me, which leaves me free to play. And it is at this point acting becomes the greatest thing there's ever been. Why? Because of the sheer intensity of the moment. Each and every moment of performance is an ideal, it's life properly lived, to it's fullest, stretched almost to breaking point,  nothing is wasted and everything carries meaning, and the routine life outside of performance seems dull and half-hearted, it pales in comparison. And this quest for the intensity of the moment, is really an obsessive search to find the absolute truth and baton it down once and for all, and it is this obsession which keeps us actors, adrenalin junkies that we are, chained to this crazy crazy business. 66 Signs Of Neon goes up tomorrow at The Purcell Room. Our last rehearsal is today. It's been fascinating seeing the different strands of the piece come together over the weeks into what is now a provocative whole. The work is neither cinema nor theatre but somewhere in between. My scene has been influenced by the old “Play For Today”, ie – the notion of a performance being filmed and transmitted to an audience simultaneously. But we've also got a voice artist, a montage of cats for sale, we've got a live drummer, oh and a “bad” Mickey Mouse... If you do happen to be around the Southbank on Thursday evening, come and see the show: - Gail Pickering Screening: Sixty Six Signs of Neon Gail Pickering’s performed fictions take specific historical sites or political events as points of reference. For British Art Show 7, she presents a performance transmitted from a remote studio. This live film montage extends her interest in forms of socio-political theatre whilst working within the tradition of live television broadcasting. Thursday 3 March, 8pm Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall Admission free