Character Work 3 (Drugs & Alcohol)

Wednesday March 1 - Sunday, 5 March
Time and location: 12-4PM at Vileisio 18N
Strictly Limited Places: Maximum 12 Actor

Price: 390.- € / EARLY BIRD SPECIAL 350.- € until February 13
*For those who repeat a workshop, there is an extra discount of 25.-€ for each workshop repeated.
Observers price: 175 Eur/5 days or 40 Eur/ day

OK! Here we go! We are going to continue our work on creating a character! In Level 1 we explored Physical Impediments and in level 2 Intense Pain. Now we are going to explore Drugs and Alcohol (without rehab, prison, or death).

The technical approach to creating the effects of drugs and alcohol is similar to the one we used to create pain. Once again, we are not dealing with the reality of drug use, only the illusion of it.

To do this, you will need to specify the symptoms that the drug you’re working with would create if you took it in real life. So do your research before the workshop starts! (Research means reading, not doing!) The trick, just as you discovered in the last workshop, will be to maintain contact with your partner through the obstacles the drug would create.

In today’s world there is such an assortment of drugs to choose from but most scripts make use of the classic drugs: alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

For this workshop, I want you to stick with these more time-honored drugs. I have good reason for this. The whole point of crafting drug behavior is to make sure an audience will believe your performance. The symptoms for these drugs are pretty widely known. In fact, none of us should have any trouble recognizing them, if you’re successful at capturing their reality.

You will get the chance to work a few times but I think it is important that everyone in class tries alcohol at least once. Drunkenness comes up a lot in both contemporary and classic scripts. Some of Shakespeare’s greatest roles are drunks!

Playing the effects of alcohol creates a particular set of problems for actors. First, you have the drunk’s physical life. You have to ask yourself, what are some of the physical symptoms of being drunk? And second, the actor has to nail the drunks’ emotional life. You have to ask why your character started drinking in the first place.

Whatever the reason a person starts drinking, the alcohol tends to reinforce and amplify it. That’s why there are so many types of drunks. Some are sloppy and some are ecstatic. Some are brooding, while others are mischievous. Some are very dignified and some are morose. Some drunks burst into tears at the slightest provocation while some are hostile for no reason.

We will set these exercises up the same way we did when you played Physical Impediments and Intense Pain. (Keeping everything SIMPLE). Partners will begin with a simple relationship. (Once we have the full list of who is participating, you will receive an email before the first day of class with the list of partners).

The actor who starts off inside the room will have a simple activity. The actor who comes to the door will have a simple objective. And of course it goes without saying that each actor will be under the influence. Choose one of the drugs mentioned above to explore, research it, and add its symptoms to your straight behavior. (You will do at least two exercises with one being alcohol).

Meisner said, “Even the wildest parts you play, the ones that bear no resemblance to your everyday behavior – they’re always you at the core. You must simply turn up the volume on parts of yourself that are normally quiet.”

I can’t wait! See you soon!

Sincerely,
Steven