Author name: Flloyd Kennedy

On further thought, after reading some comments made on Phil Willmot’s article in The Stage, I’d like clarify what I think about his dismissal of any acting training apart from Stanislavski,

I would say that depends on what your understanding of “Stanislavski” training is.   If it includes all of his later work, in which he encouraged a highly physical approach to acting, then any additional techniques such as Laban or Meissner should integrate well with this. These techniques are, after all, exercises designed to help you to develop your sense of physical, Interoceptive and emotional awareness. They are not ‘how to act’ any more than knowing where the knives are kept in the kitchen and being able to manipulate them is knowing how to cook. Thorough Stanislavskian training will give you these skills too, but different people respond in different ways, so I always recommend a mix and match approach where possible.

What is most important is to appreciate that all training exercises need to be incorporated into your very being. At that point, they are already there, you don’t need to DO them in order to ‘act’.

Here’s a great article from The Stage, in which award winning director, playwright, (and much, much more) Phil Wilmott sets out his wish list. I agree with everything he says, except the part about daily voice and physical training being tedious.

In my opinion, if you find your voice and/or physical training tedious, there is either something wrong with the training, or something wrong with your attitude.

Obviously, if you are not enjoying this aspect of your process, you won’t engage with it thoroughly. That means you won’t become the highly skilled creative artist you could be. I’m not saying it should be easy, it should definitely challenge you in every way possible. I AM saying the challenge should be something you look forward to, that you want to commit to.

If your training establishment does not offer this dream situation of daily voice and physical training, create it for yourself. Seek it out elsewhere and incorporate it into your daily life. You won’t be sorry you did.