After some deliberation, I’ve decided to take Sam’s main class again. Starting next week, it’s an intensive four week investigation into character and the self. I first took class after Self Made wrapped earlier this year, and followed it up with a mid-term session. They were both highly useful and vital experiences, but challenging. I suppose it’s the challenge I relish most when it comes down to it, but working with text, a scene partner and a director is also highly rewarding.
I’m under no illusions that this will be an gentle stroll through uneasy territory. A powerful process, I find that method within the context of class is markedly different to the processes undertaken during the filming of Self Made. However, Sam is an excellent teacher, and works incredibly hard to drive the best out of his students. What he offers up in that room at the Rag Factory is the opportunity to be creatively free and drop the everyday ‘civilian’ shell. That, by itself, took me a full three weeks to get a grip on the first time around.
I can’t imagine there’ll be time for much else to feature on the blog till December and, though I had some ideas for it, that mixtape will simply have to wait.
[Additional] Interestingly, Sam wrote a piece for What’s on Theatre.com