How did I get in to coaching actors?
The
problem with the memory techniques that are covered in all the books, is that
they leave you with the question ‘How do I apply this to my particular learning
needs?’ As my actors say: ‘Yes, that’s great, I can now remember a number of
objects, the planets, my credit card number and a shopping list, but how will
that help me learn a speech?’
I had the same problem. I had successfully
learned historical facts, foreign words, the dates of my favourite artists –
but how could I learn ‘To be or not to be?’ using this system?
With a lot of
thought and practice I began to work out a method and applied it to my
favourite poems and pieces of literature - this was just for pleasure.
By a cosmic coincidence I shared the exhibition of my art with an actor, Lorraine Molins who was also a painter. She moaned about her difficulty with learning lines and I said I could
help.
I met her at the Actors Centre, which is a brilliant organisation where
actors meet, have auditions, produce plays and have the opportunity to attend a
vast range of workshops, given by illustrious actors, producers, directors
and teachers.
Through that meeting I met a wonderful man called Barber Ali who
mentioned me to the programme planner.
I was invited to meet the artistic director, convinced him to give me my first workshop the following autumn and I have been doing that for the past two years.
I am happy to say that my workshops always have a waiting list and I love the work and I love the actors!
So much so, that I felt I needed to better understand their problems, on stage, film and television – so I joined an extras company to experience it all first hand – but that’s another story.
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