Exploring the link between advocacy and actor training

David Grant, Queen’s University Belfast

In a 1999 article in the journal The Law Teacher Les McCrimmon, a law lecturer at the University of Sydney, and Ian Maxwell, an associate lecturer in the same university’s Centre for Performance Studies, gave an account of the use of actor training techniques to help law students develop their advocacy skills (McCrimmon & Maxwell, 1999). At the heart of their argument is the idea drawn from 'reception theory' that the key figure in any performance is the hearer rather than the speaker, and that advocates should train themselves always to be aware of the viewpoint of those listening to them. There is some further discussion of spatial awareness and staging in relation to the courtroom, and an analogy is made between an advocate's preparation and the actor's rehearsal process, but what the article principally evokes for the drama teacher is an awareness of the many other aspects of actor training which seem of direct relevance to the legal advocate.

Since Stanislavsky first sought to systematise the process of actor training at the beginning of the 20th century many competing theories of acting have emerged (Hodge, 2000), broadly conforming to either an 'inside out' approach (the actor's performance is primarily informed by his/her understanding of his/her character's psychology) or an 'outside in' approach (the actor's technique allows him/her to control how he/she appears to the audience). When it comes to advocacy, the latter perspective seems more apposite. With this in mind, it can be argued that the most helpful actor training techniques for the legal advocate are those that equip him to exercise more control over his public appearance. And yet, paradoxically, the more he is aware of his appearance, the more this heightens his self consciousness. One of the first lessons an actor has to learn is how to come to terms with the natural human unease at being observed. In one survey (Bruskin Associates, 1973), 40.6% of those questioned admitted to being afraid of speaking in public. Only 18.7% were afraid of death! Confronting this inherent human reality is an important prerequisite to being at ease while being watched.

While Stanislavsky's 'system' continues to provide a good basis for much of an actor's work, when it comes to addressing these fundamental threshold performance issues other more active forms of learning have become popular among students and teachers of acting. In particular, the last two decades have seen a huge growth in the importance of clowning. The popular image of the clown in English speaking societies tends to be associated with the traditional circus (red nose and floppy feet), but the European clowning tradition has much more to do with the underlying psychology of performance. At its simplest, the power of the clown to engage an audience lies in his apparent vulnerability. He makes it clear that he is happy to be watched, thereby putting his audience at ease, and enhancing his powers of communication.

Closely linked to this idea are what the theatre director Declan Donnellan describes as the "uncomfortable choices" for the actor (Donellan, 2000). Two among these are the choices between 'faith' and 'certainty', and between 'attention' and 'concentration'. As Donnellan points out, it seems paradoxical and counter-intuitive to see these choices as contradictory. To clarify the distinction he asks us to imagine the example of the actor repeating his lines in the wings in the hope that he will remember his words on stage. He strives for certainty, but will be more likely to give an effective performance if he trusts to his weeks of preparation and rehearsal.

Similarly, an actor may sometimes report at the end of a play that he has not been consciously aware of parts of a scene. To understand this, think of a journey you make regularly. Do you ever arrive at your destination without a conscious recollection of that set of traffic lights, or that right turn? The truth is that you have been giving the journey your attention, but not your concentration. When I raised this distinction at the conference I wondered, given the complexity and relative unpredictability of the courtroom, if a legal advocate might see any relevance in this distinction, and several legal colleagues assured me that they could. The point is, I contend, that even the best prepared brief needs to be internalised, and let drop out of the forefront of the speaker's mind, allowing them to focus on other aspects of performance, such as 'reading' the room, and the response of their audience.

The experience of training actors has convinced me that the most effective way of developing this capacity is by means of game play. Outside the suspended reality of the rehearsal room this approach will often seem outlandish and embarrassing. But over the past few years I have been using such methods with students of engineering, management, social work, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and law, and have met with remarkably little resistance. On the contrary, feedback has generally been very positive, once the initial shock at having 'permission to play' has sunk in. (In feedback on a recent 'inter-professional' workshop at Queen’s including medical students, dentists and nurses, 86% found the content of the workshop "stimulating".)

The main ideas that these games seek to explore include:

• being at ease with being looked at – it is vital for your audience to feel 'licensed' to look (if a speaker is evidently ill at ease, this unsettles the audience, which exacerbates the speaker's own discomfort – a vicious circle)
• multi-tasking – the need to develop the capacity to give attention to more than one thing at a time, for example the content of what is being said, the physical and vocal technique of the speaker and the response of the audience
• the 'uncomfortable choices' – for example, between concentration and attention, or between faith and certainty
• the nature of subjectivity – the fact that each member of an audience will interpret what they see and hear differently

Some of the games that can be used to explore these ideas include:

• Samson, Delilah and the Lion – a lively physical warm-up game that lowers inhibitions. The tutor illustrates three boldly performed physical images to represent the three characters, all at the same time. Participants in pairs then stand back to back. The tutor counts down from three (3-2-1 turn) and each person makes one of the images. If they are the same, nonone scores a point. If they are different, Samson defeats the Lion, the Lion defeats Delilah, Delilah defeats Samson. The pairs keep score. Five rounds are usually optimal. This game proved remarkably popular at Warwick, purportedly because it appealed to the natural competitiveness of lawyers! Once participants have done this exercise they rarely baulk at anything else.
• Eye to Eye – a game that relates to the idea of being at ease when under observation. Participants stand in a circle, almost shoulder to shoulder. They close their eyes and decide on someone else in the circle they will look at. The tutor counts down as follows – “3, 2, 1 - open!” Anyone finding themselves looking at the person who has chosen to look at them steps out of the circle. The game continues until only one or two people are left. This game facilitates eye contact without drawing direct attention to the fact that this is its goal.
• 1-2-3 – this simple game requires participants to think about two things at once. Participants in pairs count from one to three repeatedly, taking one number each in turn. Once they have established this pattern, ask them to clap only when they say the number one, then to bend their knees only when they say the number three. At first this seems remarkably difficult for most people. Suggest they try not to concentrate, but to give the task their attention. Many people then find the task much easier. This exercise can usefully be used in combination with the next one.
• The Paper Cup – the participants stand in a circle about six metres in diameter (or as large as the space allows). A paper cup is placed upside down at the centre of the circle. In turn, the students close their eyes, walk foward and try to pick up the cup. The tutor encourages the rest of the group to describe the varying approaches – the 'step counter', the 'bomb defuser', etc. Occasionally someone approaches the task with a carefree attitude and succeeds. If not, suggest that some volunteers repeat the task, trying not to worry about whether or not they succeed. Usually this results in better rates of success. (The Star Wars phrase - "Let the Force Be with You" - is another way of explaining this!) The exercise is a good way of allowing students to explore experientially Donnellan’s 'uncomfortable choices'. The point of the exercise is to promote an emphasis on the 'journey' rather than the 'destination'. In other words, the approach to a task is more important than the imagined result if we want to maximise the effectiveness of our performance.
• The Four Chairs – a volunteer moves any or all of four chairs to make one more important than the others for the audience. The audience then votes on their subjective response to what they see. Usually there are a variety of interpretations. The exercise is a good prelude to a discussion about understanding the subjective response of the audience, and indeed subjectivity and objectivity in a legal context generally. It also raises issues of proxemics and spatial awareness. (It occurs to me that this may be a useful tool in explaining the legal concepts of subjectivity and objectivity generally.)

These exercises are intended merely as examples. There are many other games and indeed books devoted to the use of game play in actor training and rehearsal, but Boal's Games for actors and non-actors (1992) is, as the name suggests, an excellent resource for non-specialists. I am also happy to enter into correspondence with anyone interested in exploring further this kind of pedagogy - contact me on e-mail: d.grant@qub.ac.uk.

It has become conventional in higher education to analyse learning outcomes in terms of 'knowledge' and 'skills'. Neither term, however, seems apt for the kind of activities described in this short article. I would propose the adoption of a third term – 'qualities' – to identify those attributes which can only be acquired by systematic and consistent practice. This is the main contribution that actor training can make to those keen to develop their capacity for public speaking. The acquisition of qualities takes time, but it has been my experience that game play can greatly accelerate this process.

References

• Boal A (1992) Games for actors and non-actors London: Routledge
• Bruskin Report (1973) What are Americans afraid of? New Brunswick, N.J: RH Bruskin Associates, July
• Donnellan D (2000) The actor and the target London: Nick Hern Books
• Grant D (2005) The stagecraft of Brian Friel London: Greenwich Exchange Books
• Hodge A (2000) Twentieth century actor training London: Routledge
• McCrimmon L & Maxwell I (1999) 'The use of actor training techniques to help law students develop their advocacy skills' The Law Teacher 33:31

Biography of David Grant

David has worked extensively in theatre throughout Ireland as a director and critic. He has been Managing Editor of Theatre Ireland magazine, Programme Director of the Dublin Theatre Festival and Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.

Research interests include the development of youth theatre, theatre in education, theatre for young audiences and its impact on mainstream work, and Irish theatre in the 20th century. Peter is the author of Playing the wild card: community drama and small scale theatre in Northern Ireland.