Before any Meisner disciples get up in arms with their pitchforks, I’d like to remind you that there was a lot of good that Windows 98 brought to the world at large and the entire personal computer community. The title of this article is not an insult or a jab at the Meisner technique, but a very pointed metaphor. While Windows 98 offered pillars of logistics and task-completion, by today’s standards, the program is sparse and painfully slow.
I find Meisner to be analogous to this computer program that debuted nearly two decades ago in that it can be cripplingly narrow for the creative actor.
Issue #1: Listening as an Overly Self-Aware Act
The centipede was happy, quite,Until a toad in fun said, “Pray, which leg goes after which?”This worked his mind to such a pitch,He lay distracted in a ditch,Considering how to run.
—“The Way of Zen” by Alan Watts
The technique makes a fetish out of the repetition exercise, continuing it for months on end before delving into any scene work. This can have the effect of making actors overly conscious of the basic act of talking and listening.
We all know how to talk and listen, and we’re great at it when
Leave a Reply