Our training as actors gave us an ability (for better or worse) to be adaptable. I remember our animal project at RADA. We visited London Zoo weekly to research our chosen animals before bringing our findings back and reenacting them in the rehearsals rooms. My CC colleague, Charlotte (now trainer & psychotherapist) and I were red ants, donned with biker helmets for heads, our hands gaffer taped for pinchers holding polystyrene leaves, as we moved to the dulcet tones of ‘The Prodigy.’ Oh, to be a fly on the wall of that rehearsal room (or an ant). Although my toes are firmly pressed into my sandals as I type now, an actors training gives us an ability to be flexible, real and when needed to shake things up. We shook it up not just physically by being ants but in protest/not choosing to study the caged animals in the zoo as a representation of the free animal!
So how do we dust off the formal need to be credible, with our crisply ironed shirts and polished nails and let it all hang out a little bit? Often, our energy is put into trying to ‘Be Perfect’ or ‘Try Hard’ as Taibi Kahler says in the 5 Drivers, or those unconscious voices in our heads telling us we ‘should’ be better than this, we’ve ‘got to’ get it right. But, if we can give ourselves a break and have some self-compassion we can make room for the rough around the edges, and connect with our feelings viscerally. It takes courage, it takes bursting through the habitual boundaries that we are comfortable with, but if we do, we’re more likely to make an impact.
What we’re lacking when we’re driven by the straightjackets of our past, is an ability to connect with others. To connect viscerally and that’s the key. To evoke emotion in others we first need to connect to our own emotions, to make others smile, laugh or engage them and that’s how we build relationships.
If you’re working on a pitch, presentation or anything that has text, theatre practitioner Harold Guskin has a great technique to making the words your own by emotionally connecting to language. The aim is to connect in a personal and instinctive way.
- Look down at the phrase and breathe in and out while you read the words to yourself. Give yourself time to let the phrase into your head. Then look up from the page and say the line, no longer reading but speaking. This allows you to access whatever unconscious thoughts or images it evokes. It doesn’t matter how trivial or simple or deep, if it’s your actual response to it, not what you THINK is appropriate.
- As soon as you exhale, say the phrase before you have a chance to censor whatever thought or feeling surfaces, don’t deaden the line by trying to be sincere. Exhaling before you speak ensures that it is your own voice that you are using, not a phony, artificially projected ‘performance’ voice.
- Let the next line take you to a new place. Often, we hold onto a feeling or thought that’s working, out of fear that they’ll have nothing else to replace it. Avoid manufacturing a false feeling to please people around you. But, don’t be careful! Trust your impulses to respond to whatever comes to you in the moment..you are connecting to the words viscerally, not intellectually.
If we listen to and express our emotions and relate to others, we create a shared experience. That’s what people ‘buy into,’ not selling or impact but truth and synergy of alliance. So, how will you shake it up?