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Theatre Arts for Advanced Secondary Schools

Sight (The sense of seeing): People see through eyes and also very strongly through
the mind’s eye. If you close your eyes, the act of seeing often continues, with
memories, colours and dreams. It does not matter what comes into view of the
mind’s eye of an actor, it is the right one to use now. To aid the sense of seeing,
actors should respond to such question as; ‘How much of it can I see? What is it?
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Does it have colour? and how much better my vision becomes?’ Actors should
not assume that they know answers to these questions, instead they should allow
their vision to reveal to them how much they know. This is key to developing the
concentration and the senses.
Sound, the sense of hearing: Hearing is accomplished by the ears and it is done
unconsciously most of the time. Actor can hear sounds of places they are in. Again,
they pose questions: Where am I? If it is in the classroom, do I hear anyone else?
If I look out the window, what do I hear? Does the classroom have sounds of its
own? If I concentrate on my ears, what do I hear? Film actors should take various
listening exercises so that they can react to the sounds they hear.

Smell, the sense of smelling: The sense of smell is considered to have powerful
capacities in aiding emotional recall. Actors can sharpen this sense through breath
exercises. While deeply breathing in and out through nose, the actor should pose
such questions: What do I smell? Is there someone cooking in another room? Is
there a distinct smell, which I cannot identify, but that I associate with this place?
Whatever you come up with, you might get flooded by the other senses. Actors
should acknowledge whatever goes on in their mind and move forward with the
concentration on the sense that they are working on.

Taste, the sense of tasting: For concentration purposes, an actor should take some
time to explore functions of mouth, tongue, and lips. Try to work with sensorial
taste of lemon and react to its taste within the mouth, lick it and swallow; investigate
the roof of the mouth. Ask questions: What happens to my lips if I taste a lemon?
How does my tongue feel? Where do I taste the taste of lemon? Actors can try to
work with variety of food tests associated to their favourites and smell the flavour.

Touch (the sense of feeling): Sense of feeling or the touch is an enormous field
of experience. Though skin is the organ of this sense, the entire inner body can
experience feelings. Feelings like muscle ache, tickles, stomach upset, and
heartbeats, are experiences of inner body. However, when discussing sense of
touch in acting, the skin and especially the hands are expressive tools. Think of
all the things an actor’s hands have touched and experienced in real life. Imagine
texture of one thing your hands have touched, or try to close your eyes, extend one
of your hands into the space before you. Imagine that you are touching something
covered by blood. See what you have touched using your hands. React as you
respond to the questions: Where do I feel it on my hand? Can I get more sensation
from my hand? Then explore the sensation.

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