In session 6 we built upon our understanding of Emotional Preparation, and got into talking about learning words.
Here Meisner highlights the importance of learning lines by rote, as opposed to memorizing the tonality you’re planning to say them with. (Remember that you shouldn’t be planning your emotions; that part should be spontaneous.)
Optional Deep Dive on Text Analysis in Meisner work:
Learning the Lines
Step 1: Reading the Scene
- Simply read the lines, quietly to yourself. Resist the urge to judge how the lines ought to be delivered.
Step 2: Rewriting the Scene
- Write the scene out by hand, in all lower case, without punctuation or formatting.
Step 3: Relate the Scene to the Exercise
- Write down everything important to the character
- What emotional preparation might you do for this exercise?
- You have to fall in love with a character in order to play them – even (especially) if they’re despicable
- The Script is your Bible
Step 4: The Mechanical Reading
- Read the text aloud with no inflection. Slow and relaxed. Syllable by syllable
- “Mechanical” reading makes it impossible to act, giving time for the circumstances to take root in your imagination.
Step 5: The Working Reading
- “Be with” your partner. Look at each other, only looking down at the script to grab some words.
- Goal: Really talk, really listen
- Don’t talk at your script.
- As your partner speaks, give them your full attention.
Step 6: “Warming Up”
- This is not a full emotional preparation – but allow the imaginary circumstances to take hold in your mind now that you’re more familiar with the dialogue.