On the Shop Floor

I have, in the years that I have been doing plays in Mumbai, attended quite a few workshops on speech, mime, pantomime, physical technique, dance, and have emerged from them, on the whole, a better actor. I have learnt how not to lose my voice even after doing four shows in two days as Romeo, how to faint realistically on stage without conking myself on the nut, how to beat someone up or get beaten up without anyone actually getting hurt, how to use my body weight effectively instead of sheer muscle power. I have tried to create illusions through mime non-existent ropes, sticks and walls.

I have tried to break out of the quot;naturalisticquot; mode of performance by trying to incorporate dance in my performances an attempt at stylisation while playing Puck in A Midsummer Night8217;s Dream. I have even played dog and the bone8217; and tag8217; as part of a rehearsal process to portray a seven-year-old child on stage! Who says workshops are boring?!

All these, ofcourse, seemed extremely easy things to do when one was sitting in the audience, but were it not for workshops, life as an actor would be a painful process of trial and error! I know an actress who fainted so quot;realisticallyquot; during a performance that the backstage guys had an extra prop to contend with during the blackout after her scene 8212; she had knocked herself out and had to be carried out! Or the actor who had to be provided with knee-pads because he couldn8217;t bring himself to kneel gently. That is what I meant by painful trial and error8217;.

A circular move, a simple about-turn or half-turn or speaking to someone over one8217;s shoulder may seem like the simplest of things to do, but believe me when you are on stage you suddenly discover that you have four left feet, eight arms, shoulders that seem glued to your ears and a voice that sounds like something out of Disney. How do you sort yourself out then? You need to accelerate the trial and error by interacting with someone who can show you the way. You needto make the same mistake and get them corrected by someone in the know without the attendant fear of ruining a performance. Where else can you do this but at a workshop?

Of course there have been occasions at workshops when I have been left wondering whether I am coming or going. For instance, after having attended numerous workshops where I had been told by various people that the true8217; voice emerged from the head, the vocal chords, the lungs and the stomach, I finally cracked up when I was told that it emerged from the groin! Since then I have looked even in my toenails but I am yet to find my voice.

Imagine the scenario quot;Lost your voice?quot; quot;Yeah, just cut my toe-nails.quot; Then there was the workshop on physical technique where we were instructed that one could make oneself quot;lighterquot; while jumping into someone8217;s arms by tucking up one8217;s knees into one8217;s abdomen while jumping. Well, my partner did tuck up his knees, only it was my abdomen he tucked them into! Was this what they meant by quot;feellighterquot;?!

We actors are a peculiar breed 8212; we constantly need people, different people, to help us grow. The musician has his seven notes to play around with and the painter her brush, but the actor can practise art only with other people. It is every actor8217;s wish to play as many diverse roles as he/she can possibly play in a lifetime, and to do that you have to be a bit of an all-rounder. Consequently, there are no constants in our art. We are always trying to assimilate what we have learnt in to what we already know as actors, and that is why we need to feed off as many people as we can.

Sometimes the more experience one gains as an actor the more resistant one becomes to new ideas. We feel that the more we know, the less there is that is left to know. At times like these, nothing like a good workshop to shake us out of our complacency and provide us with something new to chew upon. Back to school, as they say!