The art of acting

Acting is a simple art of making non-existent existent. Making a rock a mountain. Making a glass of water a sea you can get lost in. It is giving birth to things which might not have been born themselves. What a great privilege to act!

GIVE BIRTH.

You need to give birth to the role because every role was been born at some point by the play writer and it all happened because your character needed to exist in order to make a change in their scripted world. The text has been made with a proposal of a different kind of society and it is your job as an actor to learn why. Be prepared to be called by names in the process. Personally I’ve been called Pii. And Sally Bowles. And María from Mexico. I went under the name Mikko “Ruupanen” Tuupanen too and before that i was called Laura Anderson. You are what the script tells you to. You get amazing opportunities to be all kinds of things you wouldn’t necessarily be: I’ve known how to be a flying wolf, I’ve owned a hamster and robbed a shop, I’ve given birth and been almost stabbed by an ex-convict, i’ve gotten married and partied on a yacht. Acting is not easy, it’s normal. It takes courage to be born again. What if someone thinks I think the way my character thinks? What if someone sees me peaking through the role? Is this me or am I the character? There are a million ‘what if’ s an actor asks themselves while the play is undergoing the process of getting done. It should be so. Questioning is something one does growing up, and look at you - you were just born! All the answers lie in you and your knowledge (and in the script and in the director and in the person in the opposite role) because you are who they say you are and you can handle that.

STUDY AND UNDERSTAND.

How to be you and someone else at the same time? Acting is layering things. The core is you - it has to be you, because you have soul and you are alive, all else is fictional layers in the end. The role is a filter you can (and you should) enjoy. Try to absorb life through its skin. Have a breather. Be someone else. Play a little. Laugh a little. See the people you’re acting with. They are on your side and know the rules in this game of yours. Lean back and study hard.

Every role changes you because things matter. It’s as simple as the fact that every single day changes you and your existence in this world. You can learn every day. Your character can learn every day. A role should grow within the play as it is been performed. Not any performance is the same. You should be able to adapt your mood, feelings, thoughts and future in your work at the time. If you are hungry when the performance starts, make the character hungry and see what happens! An actor is a living portrait of a human being. We do all know what hunger is. You got us emotionally attached there!

DELIVER.

Concentrate more on how to say than what to say. It is strange and beautiful thing how we as humans can deliver feelings with a crack in the voice or a sudden stop between a sentence. You don’t need to tell I’m sad to make people feel you’re sad. Acting in its finest is a subtle art making audience feel they know you better than you let them know you. It is an emotional exchange where the audience become involved in your characters life because they know what it’s like being a human. Your vulnerability creates compassion and compassion creates love.

LET LIFE HAPPEN AND LET GO.

Acting is tremendously hard at times and the easiest thing at others. Sometimes I’m all Beyonce-slay-slay ready to rock the stage or a set and sometimes I find myself crouching in the corner wondering why am I putting myself through this kind of fear of failing once again. One could assume you just need to learn the lines and remember to walk to your marks, you’d be all set. Oh no. Not at all. To act is an equivalent to setting yourself under a sea of watchful eyes ready making judgements on your performance. It is not uncommon to hear a harsh judgement with just two sides to all, a blunt division into “a good actor” and “a bad actor”. The judgement is done in a blink of an eye. And the line’s not thin, it’s as deep as it’s thick. And yo, the struggle is real for us out here on the stage! How we as actors would have our little hearts served on a silver plate to the greedy audience to feast night after night just to hear a simple phrase: “You were good”. So you hear me. I, as an actor, simply cannot let myself to sink into that rathole trying to please everyone but to stand my ground, stay on my characters side, do my thing and walk home proudly - and maybe slightly exhausted simply because acting takes its toll. To act is not the same as to please. When you are true to yourself, it shows. Hold on to that.

LIVE A LITTLE.

The most precious thing in this whole wide world is to make an effort in being a better person, a more humane human, every day. All else is secondary. If you feel you are losing touch in you, take a moment. No role, no play, no film, no commercial is that important you should lose yourself or sacrify your values in the making. The art community is intense, there are a lot of people trying to make ends meet, score the same roles, or just simply make it (whatever that means to everyone). Don’t get lost in the system. Remember who you are and where you’re coming from. The art is in you and you can’t put a price tag on that, or have someone take it away. Maybe sometimes you feel like writing - then write (look at me go!). Maybe you have a secret wish of a dance performance on a field - tell that idea to your friends and see what happens. Don’t let the struggle in this industry to beat you down. You were born to do it therefore you will find your place and peace within. Acting is important but so are cakes and sleeping too.

REACH OUT (AND TOUCH FAITH, HAHAH)

I just want to leave you with a little wish for my co-actors and people in the art industry: let’s not discriminate. Any kind of racism or neglect should not be toleranced in our acting community. We stand tall as equal diverse field, where the strength comes from people within. The stories we are giving birth on stage must be written by people from various beliefs, genders and backgrounds. The voice has to be diverse and be told by various mouths. We must educate ourselves and others in the system and simply can not look away if there is something we should take actions on. There has to be courage and leadership in the administrative section as well as in us actors.

Art changes the world, piece by piece, and with that i find peace in me.

Yours truly,

J