Things I learned about life from an acting class

On connection, truth, and presence

I’ve been instructed to ask an inanimate object some questions, so I’m talking to a recycling bin. Is yellow your favourite colour, or is this a uniform? Do you get along with the person who empties you? Does anyone ever get you confused with general waste? Do you ever get lonely?

Earlier this year, I was quite inspired by a quote from Federico Fellini, “You have to live spherically—in many directions. Never lose your childish enthusiasm—and things will come your way.”

To me, living spherically means making your interests as wide as possible, pursuing different experiences in life, going to the edge of things. The instruction sat nicely with my word for the year—vibrant—and I wanted to seek out experiences that made me feel like a bouncy ball exuberantly jumping around a room.

So I made a list of things to try over the coming months—acting, ceramics, dance, running, cooking, volunteering, and so on. The aim was to explore the various directions that could connect me to a sense of childish enthusiasm.

I decided to start with acting. After all, the acting process requires you to explore different interior landscapes, characters, and scenes. As Konstantin Stanislavski said, “If you are looking for something, don't go sit on the seashore and expect it to come and find you; you must search, search, search with all the stubbornness in you!”

What was I searching for? I wanted to get outside myself. I wanted to play. I wanted to step outside my comfort zone. According to Benedict Cumberbatch, this is essential. “The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.”

It’s the first class of a seven-week beginner’s acting course at City Academy, and I’m saying to a stranger, “I love you.” We are to maintain eye contact and can speak whenever we feel the impulse, but we can only ever say I love you, or I hate you. The idea is to forget ourselves and connect. “I love you, I hate you, I love you.”