Breath + Text = Performance

Whether directing or performing, I believe the the richest and most valuable resource you have is the text. Whether Shakespeare or Mamet, the text is designed and words are selected, combined and crafted to from a structure or armature on which meaning can be layered onto. For actors and directors, understanding the armature the author has built is important as it is the playground equipment we play upon. To continue with the metaphor - knowing the difference between a monkey bars or a see-saw can be important in how you plan to play. Beyond know what the playground looks like, the actor and director needs to encourage open exploration of the text.

I have been taught and truly believe that performance begins with the breath - the vital energy that keeps us alive and is the core of being human. Actors need to use it as technical and visceral tool in role preparation and performance. By breathing fully down into the body to where intuition and emotion live (where I keep my "swamp monster") actors can build a kinaesthetic tool for the communication and animation of the text.

To this end, I have compiled a few of my favourite warmup/explorations that I've found work to connect my body's breath to the text. You can spend as much time as you want and have to explore the body breath connection but if time is an issue (warm up for rehearsal) here are

Breath

1. Laying on the floor (or sitting criss cross), eyes closed, become aware of where the breath is landing in your body.

2. You can do a body scan to see where you are holding tension. Relax you breathing.

3. Think about feeling the breath into your belly, into the swamp monster.

4. Do a few deep breaths in, push a few breaths out.

5. Imagine a colour or energy and think of blowing it onto the ceiling. 3 times.

To the breath, we attach vocalizations - vibrations that start from the belly and follow the same path as the breath. This keeps sound energized, connected to intention and visceral. Here are some ways to move from breath to vocalizations.

1. Following the breath work above; on the easy breath out - just add a gentle hum on the exhale. Let it feel like a sigh, relaxed and gentle. Do at least 5 times.

2. Sit up (if you weren’t) and hum again. Let the vibrations fill your closed mouth.

3. Next hum, try chewing the hum around your mouth, behind your front teeth, at the back of your throat, and side to side like a big wad of chewing gum.

4. Next couple of hums, let the vibrations explore the face (the facial mask) try different pitches, and notice which higher pitches vibrate behind your eyes, in your forehead or out the top of your skull, where do lower pitches sit, throat and chest.

5. Explore the range of those vibrations (this is not about singing or pitch) with a firetruck siren sound.

6. Return to the sigh and let the mouth drop open (relax the jaw) on a maaaah or haaaah.

7. Massage the jaw joint, all the muscles of the face (nose, eyebrows)

8. Using the same vowel aaahhhh explore where the consonants live gah, kah,- back of throat sounds / lah, tah,dah, nah - behind the teeth/ wah, bah, mah, pah at the lips. The start of the sound, the energy and power comes from the low belly breath.

9. Use different combinations of consonants and vowels, and pitch - have fun and see what happens when pitch, vowels and consonants are combined (Whoah, Nit, pop, cut) How do the different words feel?

Once the vocal spaces are wormed up, the next step is to attach it to words and dramatic text. Happy visceralization.