Uta Hagen Exercises
The Fifth Exercise: Re-creating Physical Sensations,
Part I
Purpose:
The purpose of this exercise is to help the actor understand that by endowing the objects and the conditions prescribed by the playwright with imagined realities, he can produce sensations at will. In part one, you will learn to test sensory responses to visible and tangible objects that have been imaginatively endowed with properties that cannot or should not be real on stage.
Presentation:
Select specific circumstances for a two- to three-minute event, during which you will endow at least three visible and tangible objects with properties that are not real.
Keep in mind:
• This exercise deals with objects that are considered "dangerous" on stage, i.e., objects that the actor cannot have total control over an object in using it for a needed purpose on the stage. Whatever is actually dangerous must be exchanged for an imagined reality.
• Do not rehearse with truly dangerous objects in order to create the experience that you will later recreate. For example, if you are endowing water as an alcoholic beverage, don't drink real alcohol to determine how you'd behave.