‘It’s not you, it’s your brain’

I recently had the pleasure of presenting a workshop for The Actors’ Guild at Spotlight headquarters in central London. My topic ‘It’s not you, it’s your brain’ continued a deep interest of many years; encouraging actors to recognise the process that their brain goes through from the moment they receive a new script, to the conception of ideas, and finally the thrill of performance.

Many years ago I embarked upon a detailed study of just how the human brain works in its creative mode, and the struggle to readily adjust to the demands of a creative pursuit requiring original thought.

In my professional life both as an actor and as a teacher, I have frequently encountered what appears to be the same or similar experience for many actors in their journey between receiving a script and performing that script; namely what the mind entertains in its search for creative decisions consistent with what a performance demands, versus the very real anxieties of not being able to readily meet those requirements. 

Focusing upon the possibility of a common thread traveling through the minds of performers during the development of characters, my study led me to, amongst numbers of discoveries, that difficult companion, fear.

Interestingly, it transpires that as one gains more performance experience and in turn greater confidence accorded them by peers and employers, the level of fear or anxiety experienced reduces exponentially … until a new fear arrives on the scene. The new fear is the anxiety of being able to ‘match’ previous performances with the same high standard, one beyond the margins of potential ridicule. It appears there is no end of ways in which we might continue to keep self-doubt close at hand.

But, why would we do this to ourselves?

Actors who have ‘survived’ and enjoy successful careers have, in many instances, arrived at a destination where anxiety has found its natural place, allowing them to regard it merely as a small component of the performing process. Even so, in the early stages of discovering a new character, that small, component can continue to be felt as something akin to a childlike fear – often as an unrealistic anxiety – that one’s creativity had either quite suddenly evaporated, or had never been truly available in the first place.

An interesting recent declaration from the extraordinary actress Cate Blanchett, whilst shooting the new Woody Allen film Blue Jasmine, was that she feared she might be destroying the movie through her performance. An unfounded fear as it turns out, of course, but nevertheless it came from the mouth of one of the contemporary acting world’s truly wonderful actresses. 

This doubt or anxiety is to be found in many professions of course, and not merely confined to the (at times) anxious ego of the performer; however, there appears to be a disproportionate number of actors reporting, when questioned, anxieties related to feelings of potential fraudulence.

At our Actor’s Guild workshop, participants were presented with scripts to perform after a single read-through; in itself a challenging exercise, and ‘projection’ of how each of them might fare was the common response. We might call this a totally normal reaction; however, rather than bringing with it a curiosity for possibility, it appeared (for a time) to unearth a sense of doubt ranging from abject terror to ultra-competitiveness.

All because there was a new script to be performed? 

The question posed in the workshop was: given that a performer’s life is populated with new scripts on a regular basis, how are we to develop, in a proper process of trial and error – itself a cornerstone of character creation – when our minds are already consumed with the potential for disaster in the completed product?

Performers can intellectually conceive that a ‘completed’ product does not actually exist during those first stages of character development, and yet still entertain illogical thoughts about what they ‘should’ be doing to ‘get it right’ from the outset.

It is a theme I am confident many performers will know of, and while most tend to find some element of balance between the positive curiosity, so necessary at the start of a new creation, and the somewhat negative aspects of self doubt, it is possible that one may be struggling needlessly, when a basic understanding of what is actually going on in the mind might relieve us of any unwelcome and time consuming burden. 

But what of the vast majority of performers who are constantly aware that each role they may take is necessarily also an audition for the next role? Does it amount to a sense of ‘survival’?

The answer in many cases appears to be – yes.

With a sense of survival often playing an integral role in a performers life it is small wonder that anxiety follows not far behind.

Our workshop on this actor’s conundrum elicited spontaneous performances that both delighted and in some cases surprised the participating actors; not necessarily because of newfound expertise, but primarily because they began to experience the simple wonder of control over their work by actively thinking as they worked. And when one puts it in that manner, it makes simple, logical, sense; so the actor can carry on with just being … wonderful. 

Bruce Alexander is the director of Melbourne Acting Studio – London, and presented the workshop It’s not you, it’s your brain at Spotlight on 25 July 2013. For information about Melbourne Acting Studio’s regular acting training and upcoming workshops, subscribe to receive our updates. 

The Actors’ Guild is a national not for profit company with bases in London and Manchester. They provide invaluable support to actors with almost daily workshops with casting directors, movement technicians, directors and teachers of many practices and persuasions. They also have a number of benefits available to members and the incredible Actors’ Guild Bursary, which is an annual grant for one actor – providing them with headshots, a showreel and numerous other essential tools for actors.