#viewpoints

I took a class called Viewpoints with a nice man named Donnie Mather. I had taken acting classes in the past, but when I signed up for viewpoints, I had no clue what it would entail.
There were six viewpoints.

1) space
2) story
3) time
4) emotion
5) movement
6) shape

This class kept creeping into my thoughts at the Wallenstein workshop we went to. In said workshop, they condensed an entire viewpoints class into a few hours.
I wondered why this workshop was essentially speed-dating viewpoints.
And then I saw Wallenstein, and I understood.

Wallenstein used every viewpoint in the blocking. Some ways were more or less obvious than others. What stood out to me the most was the gridded pattern on the floor. It was like a game of chess, and all of the players chose to walk in clear paths, following the grids, rarely breaking that unspoken rule.

Donnie told us in the class that some people have done entire shows centered around viewpoints. I never thought I'd have the privilege of seeing one so soon.

I'm not going to lie. I didn't love Wallenstein.
But I appreciated the blocking and movements of the actors.
One area I am lacking in acting is my movement. Because I am awkward and, frankly, not confident in my own body, I overthink my movements. The viewpoints class I took helped me get better with my movement. And now, I'm desperately wanting to take another viewpoints class.

Something that bothered me greatly about Wallenstein was the fact that, for some reason, every actor was yelling. Constantly. I think there is a common feeling that if you can yell the loudest, cry the hardest, etc, then you are clearly the best actor.
Acting, to me, is about being truthful. There is nothing truthful about constant screaming.
Acting goes from art to competition when actors are just constantly yelling, seeing who can yell the loudest, who can produce the most tears from their tear ducts. It bores me.

Quoth the Christopher, "I'd rather be in a room with a serial sociopath killer (Richard) than with a guy like Wallenstein any day." Ditto.