Performing Arts
Actors
Excerpted with permission from the Introduction to ‘The Actor and the Alexander Technique’ by Kelly McEvenue, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
In the theatre world, the Alexander teacher is there to serve the actor. The actor serves the play. The requirements and challenges of the play and the rehearsal process are ever present when working with an Alexander teacher. Every day, I teach actors during the creative process of rehearsal, seeing them through to the production and run of the show. We rehearse in a repertory program, which means an actor can be involved in three different plays at any one time.
The theatrical experience is live and transitory. The risks an actor takes every night in the theatre are what make the experience exciting for an audience. Since the physical body is the actor's instrument of expression, it is vital that he is tuned in and aware of his corporeal versatility and flexibility. The Alexander work will heighten the actor's awareness of his physical habits and stimulate the actor's consciousness of how he may redirect his energy.
The Alexander Technique teacher can help the actor with both self-discovery and character discovery. A character has to evolve out of the actor's mind, body and emotions, reside there truthfully and experience the story of the play or film, moment by moment. The greater the actor's sensitivity and awareness of his body, the wider the range of choices or responses he can make for himself and his characters. A lack of awareness of physical habits of tension can impede anyone, from the surgeon to the day-care worker. For the actor, the body is a creative instrument, which requires fine-tuning, finesse and precision.
There are many obvious physical challenges in staging a play, ranging from stage combat, period dancing and costuming to the physicality of farce. The subtle emotional life of the character on stage is also realized physically, through the body and voice of the actor. The actor's body needs stamina, agility, vocal power, emotional energy, vitality and authenticity to meet the demands of theatre.
You simply cannot learn the Alexander Technique from a book. You can read about the concepts and principles of Alexander work, but at some point it is absolutely necessary to engage with a trained and certified Alexander Technique teacher. There are many Alexander teachers all over the world. To learn the Alexander Technique, one has to gain the knowledge of the unfamiliar and un-habitual through a guided experience. Alexander Technique teachers are knowledgeable and have highly skilled hands with which to introduce the student to a new kinesthetic experience of the body. When one takes the initiative to learn something unknown, it is inestimably helpful to have a guide who can indicate options and encourage discovery. The exploration of the 'unknown' is a necessary risk in the learning process. There is not a right way to learn the Alexander Technique, nor can you master the Alexander Technique on your own without a teacher, but this book serves as an introduction to why and how we are using the Technique in the theatre world today.
