I'm sure there is a scientific paper somewhere saying the human brain can only concentrate fully for about 40 mins before you starting to become less focussed. This is defintely true for me, infact I think I can probably only manage about 20 mins before I need a quick time out!
Because it is just me in the rehearsal room I don't get any of the usual down time when other actors are rehearsing scenes (or have other people to share the answering of questions with) so we have had to find a way of working which allows my lapses of concentration.
Through out the day our brains naturally make us take a break when we need it, it may just be a brief chat about something vaguely script related or a longer off topic chat about the state of the world/what we had for dinner/the weather, anything really. Zoë is great at allowing this to happen and also bringing us back to the play (otherwise I could talk about my dinner all day!)
By having these mini breaks (as well as tea breaks and lunch break obviously) I am actually able to work a lot harder and longer than I would if we just pushed on through and I tried to force my brain to focus.
However we know that once we hit 5pm we are in dangerous territory. This is when I start to feel the brain fog taking hold!
It feels like your brain is full and no matter how hard you try you just can't seem to process any more information. You are trying to listen but actually you are just staring at someone's lips and seeing the words coming out their mouth. I feel like I'm floating around in a bubble trying to control my arms and limbs and mouth to make them work like "actor Krissi" should but actually I'm only managing to act like a child who is not old enough to be able to follow instructions and wants to misbehave!
At this point it is GAME OVER! There is very little useful work I can do. We still occasionally use this time to do bits and bobs but usually Zoë (the ultimate brain fog detector) calls it a day.
It pretty much takes a night sleep to reset my brain so I have found myself going to bed at 9pm and then getting up earlier the next day to look at my script in preparation for the day ahead.
My poor brain. I think it's had a bit of a shock. It hasn't had to hold this much information in it for a very long time!
I am sure once all my lines are firmly cemented in my head it will get easier. It's just at the moment there is an awful lot to think about... Gulp!
p.s I am having fish fingers with pasta and salad for my dinner incase you were wondering!
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