Most professional actors have come across the Alexander Technique. The list of famous names endorsing the Technique is long and includes actors such as Judi Dench, William Hurt, John Cleese, Jeremy Irons and Keanu Reeves to name a few.
Now a recent documentary about Lily Gladstone, lead actor in Martin Scorcese’s recent film, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, opens with her thoughts on Alexander work.
Lily describes how Alexander supports her as an actor, helping her take care of both her mental and physical well-being:
For me, something that is the foundation of all the acting work I do is Alexander, and that’s the technique you see pop up in a lot of therapy, a lot of physical rehabilitation, music training, and it’s very much about your physical form. Finding a way to be balanced, to be centered. And it also lends itself well to creating a home base for your psyche within your own body. Coming back to a neutral stance; coming back to an aligned, grounded, calm place. Your brain knows you’re acting. Your brain knows it’s not real. Your body doesn’t. It brings you home, ’cause sometimes when you’re playing these characters, you can get pretty far out there.
from Lily Gladstone: Far Out There (PBS)
And a bit later in the documentary she makes the following observation:
You know [in the movie] ‘Certain Women’ I think a lot of people had the perception I was just a Montana Ranch hand that happened to be natural on film. But that was very, very concentrated character work that I did every day for two months leading up to walking on set. That was a character that I stepped in and out of that had a very strong physical map that was not mine.
as above, 8:16.
As she notes, ‘Coming back to a neutral stance; coming back to an aligned, grounded, calm place’ is an essential skill for an actor.
Firstly – as Lily’s experience of her role in ‘Certain Women’ illustrates – it is important for an actor’s mental and physical health to be able to step out of a character, especially when it’s an emotionally or physically demanding role.
Equally as important, though, is the ability of an actor to be able to step into a character from a neutral place. In other words, an actor’s power is increased if they can avoid bringing their own unconscious habits into a role.
Alexander Technique instructor Penny O’Connor has developed a powerful Alexander-based approach which help actors successfully step in and out of character. She describes the space an actor enters as a ‘transformational vortex’ and you can read all about it in her recent book, Alexander Technique for Actors: A Practical Course.
