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Acting is a paradox
27/08/2021 - 29/08/2021
“All men are acting, only few actors don’t!” – Eugene Ionesco
Acting seems to be a paradox, at least in my vision of acting. Let me give you an example.
An actor speaks the lines, he/she did not write, experiences a sequence of events that are not real most of the time in a place that is completely made up, with somebody that we never saw before and still: When done greatly, his/her performance resonates and seems “truthful.” That’s a paradox.
So how can something fictional, feel real? How can you bring a greater sense of aliveness and authenticity into a performance? These questions will be under the light of our attention in these few days. I like what Tennessee Williams wrote in Glass Menagerie. At the beginning of the play, when the character Tom enters, he addresses the audience and says:
“Yes I have tricks in my pockets, I have things up my sleeve, but I’m the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you the truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.”
When I started to practice Zen my Teacher gave me a black cloth to wear and called Rakusu and behind it was written: “The roots of illusion and the roots of reality are the same.“ That was a very important moment for me to start to question the roots, the nature of perception.
How about to consider, that there is nothing to do, in order to be “authentic”, but to spot the inauthenticity? To be aware of how inauthentic I am and that precise moment is inevitably and fully authentic. To become fully aware of how inauthentic I am, is that precise moment in which the authenticity and originality of what I am is expressed.
How many times do we hear “Stop acting”! This is easy to say and still it is something that cannot be done. No acting is the art of acting. This is more a consequence of a maturation as human being, who has as main interest questions like “what is true?”, “what is real?”, rather a special technique or methodology to work on.
This is an invitation to become aware of ourselves and allow a shift from seeking to finding!!!
On this weekend, we will work on short scenes and occasionally use the camera to explore some of the points exposed above.