Meisner and the Meeting of the Self
Workshop 2: Independent Activities
Workshop 2: Independent Activities
Can you do two different things at the same time, both at 100%?
Of course not.
But, Meisner said: “You must try.”
And so we try. In the empty storefront of an old jewellery shop in Kreuzberg, Berlin, 14 actors and non-actors try to do physical things with 100% of our effort — balancing a broom upside down on the top of a foot for 10 seconds; walking across the room and back with an empty bottle on top of a stack of books upon the head; throwing pennies into a jar; building a house of cards — all while allowing ourselves to be fully affected by our partner, who is in turn allowing themselves to be fully affected by watching their partner do an extremely difficult activity.
This is just the beginning. The next step is to create your own activity, and your own emotionally plausible reason for doing it. Something that brings an importance and urgency which forces you to focus on completing your task to a standard of perfection, while still being responsive to your partner, who may respond to you with behaviours ranging from helpful to disruptive to anything else.
My activity storyline was that my mother, who in reality lives across the ocean, came to visit me. While she was here, we went to a pottery class and made some vases together. In the story, my grandmother passed away suddenly, so my mother had to quickly leave to arrange the affairs, and I was to join her as soon as I could. Upon departing, she told me that she wanted to use the vase she had made as grandmother’s urn. But it was still at the pottery studio and I had to bring it. 20 minutes before I was to leave to catch the flight, I knocked the vase over and broke it.
And this was where the activity started. The task was to glue the vase back together as perfectly as I could, maintaining the utmost importance of this task, and the emotional resonance of what it would mean if I did not accomplish it. This required 100% of my concentration. And at the same time, I had to pay 100% attention to my partner, who was responding herself to what I was doing.
In between these two tasks both performed at 100% is where the magic happens.
The unexpected learning from this workshop was a realization of how little focus I have in my everyday life. In the 10 minutes of really REALLY trying with everything that I have to accomplish a singular activity, I surprised myself every time with how much I could do. And this was with the distraction of a stage partner whose behaviour I could not predict.
Returning to daily life, I looked at the pile of projects I’ve sidelined for weeks, claiming ‘My mind just isn’t there right now,’ or ‘Once things have calmed down,’ or ‘I’ve already gotten as good as I’m going to get’.
Beautiful bullshit, dressed as self-compassion.
I wrote on my whiteboard: What if I really, actually tried, with 100%?
Just 10 minutes of effort in the workshop this week got me:
4 seconds of a handstand
Building the first level of a house of cards
6 seconds of balancing a broom on my foot
Gluing together a broken vase
I heard Steven’s voice in my head — “Really, really try.”
I thought about what I might accomplish with just 10 minutes of really trying, in anything:
Learning a piano piece I’ve had in store for months.
Organizing the clutter of papers on my desk.
Playing a more challenging guitar exercise.
Learning a new German verb.
I am not a professional actor, and I do not aspire to be one. But the Meisner work is for anyone who wants to be challenged to be more embodied and real in any aspect of their daily lives. When I encounter this work under the razor-sharp eye of our teacher, Steven, who doesn’t miss any moment, no matter how small, I come out more human than I was before. I trust myself and my reactions more. I feel like I’ve expanded myself into the truth that belongs to me.
And, if I really, actually try, I might just accomplish, to my own surprise and delight, more than I thought I could.