Acting Your Dreams: Using Acting Techniques to Interpret Your Dreams (3 page)

The Dreamwright
utilizes the language of myth and metaphor, which are strongly encrypted in
symbolism. Then the Dreamwright weaves them brilliantly throughout the stories
that appear in rapid succession in your dreams throughout the night. As one
dream creature unfolds, it then morphs into some other creature in just a
matter of seconds. It sometimes amazes us that what started out as a serpent
somehow ended up a little fuzzy mole-type creature. This character is just as
frightening but it has been altered through the dream for some reason.

Our Dreamwright
also likes a good pun. We all know what puns are. We hear them and groan. But
to the Dreamwright the pun is golden. Some dream puns are subtle and others are
outrageous. As your dream story unfolds you may find it riddled with puns. I
once had a dream that I was at choir practice but nobody could practice because
there was a coral snake loose in the building. The pun here was interesting.
“Choir—Choral” “Coral Snake… Choral Snake.” One of the first things I usually
look for in a dream is the pun. I usually find at least one, if not two.

Our Dreamwright
also has a frightful sense of irony. Irony can best be defined as a use of
words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. Irony and paradox are
often woven together by our Dreamwright. Paradox can be described as two
statements that oppose each other but are both true. The great teachers of
history were very much aware of this form of communication. Jesus used it more
than anyone else. His most famous paradoxical statements were regarding life
and death. His teachings that life brings death and death brings life are
classic examples of irony and paradox.

Irony can also
be an incongruity between what we might expect in a given situation or story
and what actually happens. Most of us dream of death, for example, but in death
we rarely experience the true act of dying. There is always some form of
consciousness. Sometimes we are the murderer and the victim. Sometimes we find
ourselves abusing someone or something that in real life we find dear and
precious to us. The irony that our dreams use can often be disconcerting or
frightening.

In drama, irony
leads an audience to understand an incongruity between a situation and the
accompanying dialog, while the characters in the play remain completely unaware
of that incongruity.

As in any
screenplay, the Dreamwright will also add plot and subplot. The best way to
understand the plot of a movie is to tell a friend about the movie. As you try
and sum up the story into a paragraph or two, you are really going over the
plot.

Most dramatic
works have a subplot. Some have several. A subplot is not always easy to
determine. Each character has its own objective in the story. Each dream, like
the screenplay, has multiple levels of significance. No matter what it is and
how seemingly unimportant it may appear, there is a reason for that prop, or
that character, or that color, or that emotion. If the Dreamwright brings
something to us, no matter how frightening or grotesque, it is only because it
knows we can handle it, and because we need to see it.

These are just
a few of the tools that our Dreamwright will use during any given production.
Now let’s look at how the Dreamwright will put them to work.

For the
technique of recording a dream I have modified the screenplay script so that it
will meet the needs of the dreamer without the extraneous information. Below I
have a sample of the dream script. I’ve included a dream that I had a lot of
fun with so that I can show you examples as I go over the techniques. This
workbook is to be used in conjunction with your dream journal, so use your own
dream in your journal and record your exercises.

As you write
out the dream script it is also important to write the dream as if it were
happening at the moment you are writing it. The correct term would be present
tense. You’re the storyteller and you’re going through the experience now, in
real time. This method helps keep the dream fresh and connect you to your dream
in such a way that “remembering” won’t do.

On the next two
pages is a copy of the dream script.

Any
Day, Any Month, 2000-Something
:

Always remember
to date your dreams. You'll find this invaluable as you look back at them. With
the dates you can compare to what else may have been going on in your life that
would have an impact on a particular night’s programming.

Title:
The Spy
:

Give your
dreams a short, catchy title. One that will sum up what the dream is about.

Scene:
On a spy mission with James Bond
.

The first thing
we establish is the Scene. The Scene gives us an idea of the general story of
the dream.

Setting: In
a car on the side of the road, on a spy mission with James Bond.

Next start out
with a setting that details where the dream is taking place. If the dream is
happening in another time, like old Victorian times, the dream setting will
also note that.

Story:
James is coming…

Next comes the
story.

Here is what
the dream script looks like once it's written down.

Monday,
12 Adar, 2020 -- The Spy

Scene:

On a spy
mission with James Bond.

Setting:

In
a red sports car convertible.

Story:

James is
coming [geal] real fast down the side of a mountain, somewhat similar to the
one in the movie Goldeneye; only this road has a lake next to it, off to the
passenger side. There's the mountain (actually high hills) on one side of the
two-lane road, and the lake on the other. The side of the road pretty much
drops into the lake, but the drop [ist] isn't too far.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but somehow Bond jumps
in the water. I think he's chasing somebody. As I'm standing along the side of
the road, I see a black dump truck coming toward me.

It looks like a cross between the two-car dump truck and
the black train from Goldeneye. It Screeches to a stop beside me.

CUT TO

Scene:

Still on the
spy mission with James Bond

Setting:

A
room without much furniture. There is a table in the middle of the room.

Story:

I'm sitting
at a table filling out a form of some kind, a legal form that is written in
code. I don't know what the code says.

Bond

Are
you going to the store?

I
ascertain that he is talking to me in code, and so I respond back to him in
code.

Ben

Yes,
I am.

Bond

Would
you pick up something for me?

I agree and he hands me a white, laminated 3x5 card. Then
he thinks better of that, and hands me another card with a red visor covering
it. This visor is like those game visors where the red allows you to see what's
on the card. Again I ascertain that we are dealing with code, top-secret stuff,
[ans] and so for the sake of anyone listening, I say, or acknowledge my receipt
of the card by sticking to the grocery motif.

Ben

A
package of Marlboro Reds.

I [full]
pull the red visor down so I can read the code, and I read it back to the guy
by making up sentences that started with each new word of the code.

Although I
don't remember what the sentences were, when I'm done, the code reads…

Code:

Is
Jacob Well?

Both of us read that together and then I wake up.

By writing your
dream in the script form it is easy to break down the storyline. After all, in
its basic form the dream is a mini movie in our heads that tells a single story
or pulls together many of them to create a Through Line of Action (we'll learn
more about that shortly).

You will notice
that in the dream there are certain misspellings encased in brackets [ ]. This
is on purpose. As I'm writing out the dream, if I make a mistake in spelling or
write something that I didn’t intend to, I assume that there is a subconscious
reason. These reasons can sometimes affect the meaning of the dream.

Also note that
the Scene and the Stage Direction are not indented. That is to differentiate
them from the dialog and help keep things separate. Dialog is a powerful tool
in understanding the dream. That’s why it’s indented and set apart, so that
it’s readily available as you reread the dream.

Notice too, the
“Cut To.” This just indicates that the scene has changed. In this case the
dream has two scenes. Some dreams will have many more and you can use the Cut
To or separate them by Scene Two/Three etc. I chose Cut To because I’m still in
the same basic scene, but the setting has changed.

When I identify
the person speaking, I use my name instead of saying “me.” When I’m recording
my dreams, I am both an observer and a participant. Later in the dream “Ben”
will become “Me,” and you'll see that process.

Mission #3

1.
     
Now that you know the basic script
style, rewrite your dream using the style of the dream script.

2.
     
Put a date at the
top of the page.

3.
     
Give your dream a title.

4.
     
Mark the scene.

5.
     
Write out the
setting.

6.
     
Write the story,
remembering to separate the stage instruction from the dialog.

Now let's move
on and talk about some theatrical terms and how they apply here. While reading
the script, the actors understand that they must adjust themselves to what they
are reading, not what they are reading to themselves. For each one of us that
means when we approach the dream script we adjust ourselves to the dream. We
start fresh. We may think we know what the Dreamplay is about, but we must
clear our minds and prepare to learn what the Dreamwright intends to teach us.

The first thing
we need to establish in a Dreamplay is the cast of characters. The cast is a
list of everyone who has made an appearance in our dream. In a Dreamplay, there
will often be characters that don’t “appear” in a recognizable form but are
part of the cast none-the-less. When you plot out the cast be sure and look out
for those characters.

The Spy—Cast of
Characters

-James
Bond—James was given a name and is an obvious cast member.

-Ben—Ben pretty
much stars in all of his own dreams. In this form he is the headliner.

-Somebody—This
is the unnamed and unseen person James is chasing in the dream. Although I
didn’t see this person or know them directly, they are relevant to the dream’s plotline.

-Anyone Listening—The reason James and I are talking in
code is for the sake of “anyone listening.” This unknown entity could consist
of a single person or several. They could be individuals, government spies,
commandos, or some sort of a crime ring. In this phase of working through the
dream “anyone” is yet unknown.

It would be
natural to assume that someone was driving the black dump truck but you’ll
notice that I didn’t include this person as part of the cast. The reason is
simple. I don’t even know if anyone was driving the dump truck. In dreams,
vehicles can sometimes drive themselves, and since there was no identified
driver in the movie Goldeneye, it’s safe to assume that there may not be one
here either.

Mission #4

1.
     
Write down the cast
of characters for your dream.

If there’s anything that stands out
about that character then write that down as well. For example, you notice a
large wart on the monster’s nose, or his arm seems to hang just below the
knees, or he’s green, or he’s wearing a tutu.