3.08.2007

Who's this Meisner cat anyway?

I went to my acting class again last night. Fewer people this time. I watched the others go through their stuff, then it was my turn.

The new guy wasn't there, so I stood up with one of the more seasoned class members and we faced each other. I had to observe him and then tell him things about him, like he had a blue shirt on, etc. The next step was to tell him something which he had to repeat, then I had to repeat what he said, and he had to repeat what I said, etc etc etc. We went through it a few times, and this might sound stupid but it took me a while to get it. You're supposed to repeat exactly what your partner says, for example if I say "you have blonde hair", he has to repeat exactly that to me, then I repeat it back etc. But because this guy is at a more advanced stage the exercise he usually does is different and the conversation goes more like "you're doing something, I'm doing something, you're doing something, I'm doing something, you're doing something, I'm doing something, you're angry, I'm angry, you're angry, I'm angry" rather than, "you're tall, you're tall, you're tall, you're tall", so after I said "you're wearing a watch", he'd say "I'm wearing a watch", due to habit. And the first time, instead of then repeating what he had said, I'd correct him and say my original line again. After a few times of doing this, or imitating his hesitation instead of just repeating what he said, we did it again. I said "You have brown shoes", he replied "I have brown shoes", so I repeated "I have brown shoes", and on and on and on. We went on like this for a while, I zoned out after a bit and just kept automatically saying the same thing.. it went on for longer than any of the earlier did, and I started feeling very uncomfortable, and wanting to laugh. I wanted the instructor to cut in and stop it already. Our voices started to go a bit hoarse and he said something that sounded like "brown shoes" to me so I repeated "brown shoes". And finally the guy stopped us. I could have ended the misery earlier if I'd picked up that he dropped the "I" a few times and repeated what he said, instead of just droning on with that one line, but I wasn't paying attention properly, which is I suppose the point.

It was, as you can imagine terribly exciting. I have been told by another in the group that it doesn't take very long before you get to the "doors and activities" stage. I can't wait!

3 comments:

Ronald said...

I bet you haven't been so zoned out since you used to chat with me. Hehe. Just kidding.

I bet it's more difficult than it sounds, a bit like playing the 'Yes/No' game, where you have to answer quick fire questions without saying either Yes or No.

Michelle said...

Er... what was that?

Michelle said...

He he. Sorry. It's very very weird to not only have to do something that is very unnatural, uncomfortable and boring, but while people are watching you do it. I really felt like I was just going to crack up, I'm glad I didn't, that would have been embarrassing.. very unprofessional :)