Meisner's unusual techniques were considered both unorthodox and effective. Actor Dennis Longwell wrote of sitting in on one of Meisner’s classes one day, when Meisner brought two students forward for an acting exercise. They were given a single line of dialogue, told to turn away, and instructed not to do or say anything until something happened to make them say the words; one of the fundamental principles of the Meisner Technique. The first student’s line came when Meisner approached him from behind and gave him a strong pinch on the back, inspiring him to jump away and yelp his line in pain. The other student’s line came when Meisner reached around and slipped his hand into her blouse. Her line came out as a giggle as she moved away from his touch.[3]
The goal of the Meisner technique has often been described as getting actors to “live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”[4] The technique emphasizes carrying out an action truthfully on stage and letting emotion and subtext build based on the truth of the action and on the other characters around them, rather than simply playing an action or emotion. In one of the best known exercises of the Meisner Technique called Repetition, one person spontaneously makes a comment based on his or her partner. and that phrase would be relatively quickly, repeated back and forth between the two actors in the same manner until it changed on its own. The objective was always to react truthfully allowing the repetition to change naturally rather than creating or manipulating a change. Well my friends, the next blog post will be about the history of theater through time next month.
