How the nervous system affects performance

Because what you're being asked to do is be vulnerable and sensitive to the story while being put in circumstances that can be very intense, very clinical and very technical, while at the same time as you're being asked to be the heart of the story, the heart of the experience.

And this can be very confusing for actors. And what I see quite often is they shut down. They go into a state of freeze. It affects their performance, and if it doesn't affect their performance, it affects them in their ability to enjoy, remain curious, remain open to the process.

So I feel it's a very important conversation. How do you hold on to your own integrity, your own value, your own craft, your own skill in those circumstances?

It is about nervous system regulation. So how do you regulate your fight, flight, freeze response, your desire to leave, your desire to defend yourself in a kind of more reactive way?

Or what can happen to the nervous system is you can go numb and freeze and actually not be able to say anything.

That’s why I’ve created my empowerment courses to give you the kind of skills you need to practice to prepare for situations of intensity so that the set can be intense and people can be under pressure.

But you, the actor, know how to create the space to remain complex. And that requires skill and that requires you having a kind of greater awareness of yourself, of others, of your role within the story.