‘Work’ is such a tainted word.

It generally implies a lack of enjoyment, cumbersome activity and hours spent on things we would rather not be doing. At an age (22) where all too much of life seems to revolve around not having enough money, ‘work’ is often associated with getting by financially. Scraping through.  Working because you have to. Struggle street. Battlers boulevard. Grafters grove.

In the theatre world, ‘work’ is an entirely different concept.

The word simply reflects the action of putting in time and effort towards an open-ended, end. ‘Success’? A career? Being a better all-round performing artist and creative practitioner? These are fluid concepts. A good actor never stops learning, pinching snippets of ideas, nuggets of genius, taking inspiration, and being malleable to all kinds of change. In the theatre one must be open to shifts. ‘Better’ or ‘worse’ is an arbitrary line of thought; all that matters is committing to the work.
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One of my MA Acting classmates Brian Pater, a Portland, Oregon native, shared a wonderful piece of psychology/philosophy with me the evening before school started:
(To paraphrase…)

“There are four states of ability when it comes to any task, activity or skill.”

Unconsciously Incompetent (You’re bad at something, and you don’t know it.)

Consciously Incompetent (You’re bad at something, but you know it, and thus have a self-awareness which allows you to improve your ability.)

Consciously Competent (You’re good at something, but you can continue to improve and develop an expertise.)

Unconsciously Competent (You are so accomplished at something that it is instinctual and ingrained into your physical and mental memory.)

Meeting thirteen new actors,  all with different areas of expertise and inability has been a wonderful equaliser. In a school where so much is packed into such short time-frames, there is no time to be caught up in the concept of being ‘good’ or ‘bad’ at something. All that matters is being open to development, and getting out of the
‘Unconsciously Incompetent’ zone- regardless of which of the other three categories you fit into for any given class or exercise.
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The first two weeks at Bristol Old Vic have been equal parts exhilarating and exhausting. Voice lessons, dance lessons, actors movements lessons, stage combat lessons, text project rehearsal, physical warmups, physical development, reflections, and bucketloads of learning admin all squeezed into one chaotic timetable. I keep bloody forgetting to breath. An absolutely chaotic first ten days, and we are barely getting started…

Accepting tutorship. Being committed to personal development and reflection.
Enjoying the fun and silliness wherever possible. Not trying to be clever or impressive.

Just doing the work.

JCL.