“It sounds a bit weird but it’s a really simple technique, that becomes quite complicated and amazing once you get the hang of it. It gets you out of your head and simply reacting to the other person with your instinct. The work is definitely good for people who tend to overthink things, but can help everybody become more truthful and connected to what’s happening in the room. I’ve gained a sense of play, and an easy way to make creative choices when acting.”
Sanford Meisner and The Meisner Technique
Who was SANFORD MEISNER?
Sanford Meisner was an American teacher, actor and director. He was one of the founding members of The Group Theatre (along with Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg and Harold Clurman), all of whom went on to revolutionise actor training in the 20th Century.
“My approach is based on bringing the actor back to his emotional impulses and to acting that is firmly rooted in the instinctive. It is based on the fact that all good acting comes from the heart, as it were, and that there’s no mentality to it.”
– Sanford Meisner
WHAT IS THE MEISNER TECHNIQUE?
Sanford Meisner defined acting as “living truthfully under given circumstances.” He believed that an actor should never be manipulated or negatively impacted to be able to act – instead, he aimed for solid, organic truth, rooted firmly in instinct.
The cornerstone of the technique is an exercise called ‘repetition.’ Repetition consists of a series of exercises to train an actor to discover their instinctive impulses, develop the ability to observe, respond and to live truthfully, moment to moment.
Notable Meisner trained actors include; Allison Janney, Jeff Goldblum, Diane Keaton, Steve McQueen, Robert Duvall, David Mamet, Gregory Peck, Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Mary Steenburgen, Illeana Douglas, Christopher Lloyd and Alec Baldwin.
“I’ve studied the Meisner technique before but found Erica’s approach so much simpler to engage with and learn from, more accessible and of more benefit to me as a person and a performer. Her teaching helped me to strip away any unnecessary emotion or layers that I might be tempted to add to my performance and just get to the heart of what is actually going on in the moment.”