Introduction

In this portfolio I will be discussing and evaluating my acting journey to date at Leeds conservatoire. I will be evaluating in depth all classes, techniques that I feel have had a lasting impact on me and have aided me in developing me acting skillset. Before starting at Leeds conservatoire my knowledge of acting was very limited as I had only ever partaken in musicals that had very minimal acting involved so when I started my training I was introduced to many different styles and techniques that I had never heard of before. Some of which were not for me whereas others I found extremely useful to add to my acting toolkit which I have been growing gradually since my training started. Now I shall be going into more detail.

Scene study

We started this module back in January of 2024, during this module we were asked to read a selection of plays and then asked to choose one to work on. we were asked to select an assortment of scenes that did not exceed 10 minutes (15 if you were a three) as at the end of the year we would perform them as our assessment pieces. I chose to work on the play lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons. During these classes Dermot trialled a few techniques with us that would hopefully aid in the rehearsal process easier and our performances more effective. The main technique he explored with us that I found most helpful was looking into subtext. Subtext is looking into what the character isn’t saying explicitly but is implied by the context of the scene and the reader interprets the line. (Lee-Rekers, 2023) we were asked to go through our scripts and annotate each line to find the subtext in it, I found this to be extremely helpful as it meant that the characters that we were portraying had an array of complex emotions and were not just one note as they appeared to be on the page.

Putting this into practice I was able to find deeper meanings to what the characters were saying without them actually saying it for example, in this scene Bernadette knows that Oliver has cheated on her with Julie, but she is waiting for him to admit it which he never does instead he withholds information and only tells her about throwing a brick through a shop window. so for the line “I’m glad it was only one brick, not like several bricks” she is really referring to the bricks as her own personal metaphor for Oliver and Julie having sex without actually explicitly saying the word. I really enjoyed using subtext although it doesn’t always apply to every sentence in the script it can still majorly affect how a line is delivered as it can give it two separate meanings. 

Drama online-2024

During this module, Dermot introduced us to a technique that would hopefully aid us in learning lines at a quicker pace. The exercise entailed all of the class finding a space and sitting down for ten minutes and reading over multiple paragraphs of text to see how much we could obtain. This seemed to work quite well for majority of the class but for a select few (myself included) it didn’t seem to be all that useful as it meant taking in great amounts of information at one time which my brain just dos not seem to do very well so it is safe to say I did not keep a hold of this method for learning lines in the future. While there were more methods and techniques that Dermot had introduced to us I feel that actioning served me the best when it came to learning my lines and just overall adding more layers to the performance as a whole.

(Norvelle, 1962)

Movement

Before starting my training at Leeds conservatoire,  I had been fortunate enough to have taken movement classes before as they were part of my college curriculum in first year. when starting our movement classes at Leeds conservatoire I was astonished at how different and how much more detailed the classes were compared to my college training. During our first year we explored looking at Laban efforts. The eight Laban efforts consist of punch, slash, flick, float, wring, glide, dab and press. During the first term we looked at exploring these eight efforts with Rebecca and how they would move around in the space, we also looked at if the effort was indirect or direct. After getting to grips with what the efforts were and being comfortable with embodying them, I soon was able to start applying them in other areas of my training such as Acting through song. I would take the approach of going through my sheet music/lyrics of my songs that I had been working on and annotated each line to have at least one specific Laban effort .Once I knew how to apply Laban efforts to my work on paper it was time to put it into practice, I found that it really elevated my performance quality especially when it came to angrily charged songs such as ‘Carrie’.(insert annotated Carrie lyrics) I tended to use allot of punches, flicks and wringing efforts in the song as it reflected how she was feeling in that current moment and I felt as though it very much paid off as by doing so I was able to emotionally connect with the character that I was meant to be portraying.

(Waltmann, 2022)

In second year we started our animal studies module with Patricia. Over the first term we studied into the behaviour of reptiles, birds, primates and mammals. During this time we looked into their behaviours, their routines, diets and many other factors of their day to lives(Smart, 2021). After we had finished the time of exploration we were asked to pick a animal that we could embody for our political speeches module with Dermot. I chose to embody aspects of my chosen bird which was a mallard as they are known to be quite timid in nature but when threatened they will put up a fight which is exactly how I wanted my speech to come across. I found this module of movement quite interesting but not as useful as I anticipated it would be for myself. Other found it quite useful as it aided them in the delivery of their speeches very well whereas I myself couldn’t fully connect with what I was trying to do and that is ok as I still managed to deliver my speech to a standard that I was happy with but I will most likely not be revisiting animal studies in the foreseeable future as I find that it does not work for me as a performer.

Meisner During my time studying at leeds conservatoire I have been introduced to many different acting styles and techniques, the most interesting and useful technique that I had been introduced to is most definitely Meisner technique. “Meisner focused on developing actor instincts and improvisation to help them respond naturally to their environment and other actors”- (Waltmann, 2023). This quote best describes my experience with learning Meisner technique. It is difficult to single out one specific exercise during this module that I found extremely beneficial as most of them were, but if I had to choose I would say is when we introduced to under reading. Under reading is the practice of  two actors and two readers participating in a scene the readers will feed their designated actor a line and the actor will then repeat the line to their partner this practice continues until the scene is complete. When we first were introduced to the practice I was sceptical as I struggle to relay information given to me despite how much is given however, with this particular exercise I found myself listening to the line and being able to repeat it as at this time in my training I was able to be more vulnerable and respond with truthful which made my concern of repeating the line accurately go away. Although I have not had the opportunity to use this exercise at any other point in my training know that I shall use it when the opportunity presents itself as I feel that I will be extremely beneficial and will aid me well when it comes to running a scene with a partner. During the beginning of the module we introduced bringing a activity into the space. The activity had to be timeconsuming and had to be completed by the end of a short time limit. The activities started off as just involving you/I repetition. As we progressed further with the module so did the complexity of the exercises. I found the time consuming activities very useful to me as it meant I could put all of my concentration onto one thing which meant that my responses to my partner in the scenes that we performed were honest and truthful as I had a distraction to occupy me.

As we progressed throughout the year our sessions became more complex as they were layered with exercises and techniques. Two of the exercises that we layered with each other were emotional preparation and relationships. These two exercises worked well hand in hand with each other as they both involved crafting the exercise outside of the room as well as inside the room. Emotional preparation is a very versatile technique that can be used for a multitude of performance scenarios and is a very useful skill to have in my acting tool kit. As for the relationship exercise it still is a very useful technique to use however it is not as easily adaptable as the emotional prep as if I were to do a monologue there would be no need for it whereas with emotional preparation I could still utilise that.

Getting to grips with Meisner technique has most definitely been a journey but a journey I have been so thankful for being able to take. As I am nearing the end of the Meisner module I am now able to take a step back and see how much of a difference this class has made on my acting abilities; having opened my eyes to how versatile and malleable a performer must be – changing your reaction based on outside stimulus and not keeping the same pre-conceived performance choices regardless of what my scene partner may change in different rehearsals of a scene – which links to the idea of the “pinch and the ouch” that our lecturer has brought up throughout our lessons, the ‘pinch’ (my scene partner’s action) must inform the nature of my ‘ouch’ (my reaction).

Conclusion

In conclusion I have found my acting journey at Leeds conservatoire a fruitful endeavour, and the variety of classes I have participated in have had mixed levels of effectiveness in furthering my ability as a performer. Regardless of whether I found the classes helpful in the assignments they were related to, I can think of many applications for everything we have covered in the theatre industry. For example I may not have found the animal studies module beneficial for my political speech work but there are multitudes of jobs in the real-world industry in which this may become useful, and because of this I am thankful to have been offered the opportunity to study it. Broader applications such as Meisner technique, and text analysis work will also be needed in all aspects of my future as a performer, and have broadened my expectations as well as the belief in my own ability as an actor, to effectively convey an embodied and truthful performance.

Bibliography

 Lee-Rekers, W. by A. (2023) What is subtext in acting?: Reading between the lines of a script, StageMilk. Available at: https://www.stagemilk.com/what-is-subtext-in-acting/ (Accessed: 01 January 2025).

Norvelle, L. (1962) Chapter 2: The origin of stanislavski’s system. Available at: https://core.ac.uk/download/37321987.pdf (Accessed: 02 January 2025).

Smart, J. (2021) 8 famous actors on why you should try the animal work technique, 8 Actors Who Use Animal Work to Construct Their Characters. Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/8-actors-who-use-animal-work-to-construct-their-characters-73703/ (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

steiner,  sam (2023) Lemons lemons lemons lemons lemons, Drama Online – Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons. Available at: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-detail?docid=do-9781784607555&tocid=do-9781784607555-div-00000003&actid=do-9781784607555-div-00000011 (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Waltmann, S. (2022) Laban Movement Analysis: An introduction for actors | backstage, Laban Movement Analysis: An Introduction for Actors. Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/laban-movement-analysis-guide-50428/ (Accessed: 01 January 2025).

Waltmann, S. (2023) Meisner technique exercises: Repetition and more | backstage, A guide to Meisner’s repetition Exercise. Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/meisner-technique-exercises-76063/ (Accessed: 01 January 2025).