THE PRO-FILE

ACTING OUTDOORS (PART TWO)

In the first part of this interview Mike Bishop discussed the value of a 'long run', the financial side of surviving as an actor, utilizing the actor's ability to communicate and the value of resilience for the actor.

Part Two begins by expanding Mike's thoughts on the need for an actor to remain positive.

Richard: So how does the 'being positive thing' fit into the actor's world when the actor is dealing with criticism all the time?

Mike: Well if you allow that to impinge on your soul or your spirit then you will very soon have no soul or spirit left. You literally have to be buoyant. You have to say, "OK, next!" I describe to college students at the Victorian College of the Arts when we are doing film or TV experience … work with the camera I think they call it ... (Incidentally this is only two weeks out of a three year course, yet that will be their major source of income in their professional lives) … I say to them, my definition of an actor is "a professional auditionee". Unless you know how to audition you wont get the gig. Unless you take a risk in audition you wont be different from anyone else. So you have to make a few decisions along the way as to your attitude to auditions because without them you wont be working. You don't get given work, you have to earn it. You have to earn it by making a positive impression on the people who are watching. You wont get it by making a negative one.

Richard: So that's your goal at an audition, is it … to make a positive impression?

Mike: Absolutely … that's my goal. Though ultimately I say, "to be yourself is the best thing" …

Richard: To be your positive self…

Mike: Yeah, that's true … being fearful in an audition is … really destructive. I heard a great definition of fear the other day. It's … False Evidence Appearing Real ... I reckon that's a great definition of fear for the actor. If you go in and you actually give all this false evidence about yourself that they actually smell and they know that's not real … then through the false evidence they will detect the fear. So it's the fear factor that decreases the chance of getting the job. Whereas if you walk in brash and you 'don't give a rats' it's a lot better attitude to have because you are just being yourself then.

Richard: Provided that the brashness is not …

Mike: … negative …

Richard: … is not False Evidence Appearing Real or a mask that is covering the fear.

Mike: It's a really interesting one.

Richard: So what about performing outside? When I saw Twelfth Night you were competing with aeroplanes, movie sound tracks …

Mike: There are two elements of that communication you are talking about.

The other night we had -

• Movie sound tracks
• Planes
• Fireworks
• A Street Party
• Police sirens and helicopters
• And bats that happened to be very noisy that particular night.

We were performing in a cacophony of sound. That doesn't happen all at once and it varies in volume every night but you always have sound. It is not a quiet place the gardens. I mean my impression when I first performed there was that it would be …

Richard: Serene …

Mike: Yeah, serene … IT IS NOT.

Richard: My impression from nine years ago when I saw my first Shakespeare in the gardens, is that it has become a lot noisier.

Mike: Yep … although I recall one performance … it was the first time we did Twelfth Night … the police helicopter with its search light actually hovered over the audience … they must have thought it was a convention of robbers.

Look, performing outside is a joy. It is unusual … I think for people doing it for the first time they notice how incredible it is in the variation of atmosphere. The atmosphere is created by -

• the weather
• the amount of insect life
• the amount of pollen
• the amount of noise (which we have covered)
• the amount of distracting visuals

If only there was a thermostat in each costume because if you are wearing a coat on the hot nights it's too hot and on the cold nights its probably just right; if your not wearing a coat on the cold nights your freezing and on the hot nights you're not so bad. So, it's not like a theatre where you have everything structured and predictable. This is the 'theatre of the unpredictable'.

Richard: O.K. So how does that affect you as a performer?

Mike: It teaches you to be more flexible; it teaches you to accommodate the unusual; it teaches you to be prepared for anything and it develops a strength in you from a vocal point of view that you would not normally have in a theatre.

Richard: This vocal strength is a huge factor. I was listening to the cast working their voices and thinking this is above and beyond the call of duty at times. Do people find that stressful?

Mike: Some people do. The smokers find it far worse than the non-smokers. We have had a couple of people in the cast spraying stuff down their throats because they're sore in the vocal chords. I say to them, "All you have to do is stop smoking and you'll be fine." It really is as simple as that. If you think about it - taking hot fumes down your throat and then going out and swallowing, thrip and dust on top of it all is not going to do your voice any good. And when you get a 'bug' (virus) the bug stays with you because the smoking and all that abuse you have been giving your throat is going to make the illness worse.

Richard: Are there any actual voice techniques you recommend?

Mike: Well I am a voice teacher. I have worked at the Victorian College of the Arts, Rusden and I find it incredible that if you build up your 'engine room' you're fine but if you let your engine room go to waste … and I am speaking of the diaphragm and all the muscles around there … then it's six times as difficult. If you're not fit it's six times as difficult. So you have to have a certain amount of physical fitness for your vocal chords to be relaxed with the way you are breathing. If you get short of breath very quickly then it all slips up into the throat and you end up working entirely off the throat with no breath support … that's incredibly difficult. And the people who are less fit and smoke more - do all that kind of stuff … it's tough for them … whereas in a theatre it's not so tough because it's a controlled environment.

In the theatre, particularly in the Arts Centre they say, that vapourizers are essential and I have found that when I work there that it does just dry the throat out incredibly so a vapourizer is a fantastic thing to have in a dressing room in a theatre. But you've got automatic vapourizers in the gardens … just breath in the humid air or breath in the damp air as the rain comes …

Richard: And then the umbrellas go up …?

Mike: Yeah … we had an audience on New Years Eve which if you recall was a shocking thunder storm. The audience was sitting there with umbrellas up and at one point in the 'letter scene' I said to them, "Well, who wants me to go on?" The hands went up and everybody voted yes. "Right! Here we go!" So I continued and got absolutely saturated. We got to half time and by then everyone was drenched … so we had to call it off 'cos it just kept on pouring. It was a really large audience … and unfortunate for them because they didn't get to see a whole show but its something they will never forget because it was such a memorable night.

The extremes of weather promote a really interesting reaction in both audience and performer in an outdoor performance.

Part Three of this interview examines Mike's enthusiasm for Shakespeare and how he relates to the text. Plus - "ripping up the script" and the importance of the opportunity to improvise.

<< GO TO PART ONE

GO TO PART THREE >>