Acting Your Dreams: Using Acting Techniques to Interpret Your Dreams (7 page)

Often times an
actor will have done all of his or her work, only to find that there are still
some gaps that they cannot reconcile. In this case, the actor will have to make
a leap of faith based on all the work done up to that point, and fill in the
gaps. If an actor must lash out at a character in the screenplay, but is given
no reason, the actor must take all that he or she knows about the character and
fill in the gaps so that when they lash out, it makes sense to the actor as
well as to the audience.

This is true
with dreams as well. Often, the dream will not give us much information about a
dream situation. How many times have we had a dream that someone was
approaching us, and with no reason whatsoever, we reacted in terror and tried
to get away? Most of us have had dreams where we lash out at a seemingly
innocent person for no reason at all, and there’s nothing in the dream to
indicate that they did anything at all to deserve our ire.

Just like the
actor we must discover the circumstances that might have led to the action. In
some cases, the actor could have decided that it was a look on the face of the
person they blew up at. Maybe they decided that it was their own fear of
getting too close or too trusting. But as I said before, the actor is very
careful about filling in these blanks and only does so after having exhausted
all other options to understanding the motives of the character.

When a dream
has not given us much information regarding our “motivation” we must then be
very careful in assuming it. We start by looking at each of our decisions as
“possibilities,” i.e. why did James Bond speak to me in code? The dream
suggests that there is or might be someone listening, but it gave me no proof.
So I will carefully look at that as I look further into the dream, being
careful not to “over-analyze” the dream. The only way to know if any of these possibilities
is a good choice is the “Aha.”

In a
screenplay, while studying a scene, the actor asks himself, “what would I do if
I were in that situation?” That will help him get a better understanding of the
possible real life emotions they may experience if they were living the
situation they are playing.

When dream
events happen, and we find ourselves in a bit of a dilemma trying to understand
the Dreamwright’s reasoning, we can ask ourselves “What would I do if I were
awake in that situation?” This may sound crazy, or at least silly, since most
of us aren’t going to face fire breathing dragons or elephants wearing tutus in
real life. But there is still enough of a real life element to make it doable.
If you were being chased, how would you respond to that in real life? If you
see something that is so bizarre, i.e. an elephant wearing a tutu, how would
you react to that? If you were driving a red sports car and hanging out with
James Bond, how would you feel about that?

By asking this question
you literally break down the boundary between your dreaming life and your
waking life. The dreaming mind is no different than the waking mind. It knows
only what information it’s been given through the senses, and while your
conscious mind may be somewhat quieted, your mind still assumes that everything
you’re experiencing is real. By thinking about it in real terms you can glean a
lot of information that wouldn’t be available by simple dream analysis alone.
So although a situation may sound silly, it has much to teach us. After all, we
didn’t question whether or not Mork came from the planet Ork or that James Bond
can escape from any situation (even if it involves escaping the entire Russian
army using only a thimble while helicoptering away in a state of the art
Russian copter that just happens to be there at the right time). Don’t worry
about the aesthetics, just ask yourself the question honestly and see what
comes up.

Mission #13

1.
     
Honestly go through your dream and
consider that everything that happened in the dream is real. Look carefully at
your dream and ask yourself, “What would I do if I were awake in this
situation?” Don’t worry that it may feel silly, just enjoy it.

Mission #14

1.
     
This Mission should
only be done after you have gone through all the other aspects of the dream and
you still don’t have an “Aha” from a certain dream segment.

2.
     
Pick out the segment in your dream where
you cannot find the “Aha” and the particular action seems to be unmotivated.
For example, you can’t understand why you’re running away from something that
should be benign.

3.
     
Once you’ve isolated
that section, and after you’ve done all the work on it, go through and make a leap
of faith or fill in the action based on what you already know about the dream.

4.
     
If you make a
decision about something and it doesn’t seem right, then it isn’t. Try it again
until you get the “Aha.” Don’t worry that this may take you a couple of
scenarios.

Another
objection you may feel will relate to what I said early in the workbook, which is
taking liberties with the Dreamplay. Don’t worry about that. Since your
Dreamwright hasn’t given you the information via all the other aspects of analysis,
it’s okay to move on to this step. Remember, the Dreamwright appreciates any
and all attempts we make at understanding these creations and it won’t object
to you taking a certain unexplained situation and trying to bring it to your
conscious understanding. Count on the Dreamwright for help, even as you fill in
the blanks.

One final
exercise you can try is the slow reading. This is simply what it says. The
actor reads the script for the first time without any “acting” smeared on top
of it. In the process of script analysis this is usually one of the first
things an actor does, but the actor hasn’t just lived the play with full on
emotion the night before. That’s why I’ve put it last in this book.

This slow
reading process helps merge the subconscious and conscious, which will give you
some extra insight into the characters and the dream story. It also helps
bypass the analytical side of the brain and bring in a more intuitive
component. It’s very easy, but it takes a little time—and a lot of patience.
The longer the dream the more time it can take, but it’s worth it.

The process is simple.
You read the script one word at a time, very slowly. As you read you pay close
attention to what images, thoughts and feelings come to mind. Then you write
them down in your dream journal. That’s it. And you can’t read too slowly.

Once you’ve
done the slow reading, you put all the components together and let them talk to
you. It may seem a little difficult at first, but I guarantee, as you do, you
will find that it has a powerful effect on your understanding of the dream.
Reread what you wrote and let those thoughts and images wash over you. Once
you’ve done that, then reread again… word for word. You’ll add depth that you
never dreamed of (pun for fun).

Mission #15

1.
     
Do a slow reading of
your dream.

2.
     
Record any thoughts,
images, emotions and other ideas that come to mind.

3.
     
Read over your recorded dream thoughts.

4.
     
Now reread the
dream.

5.
     
Record any new
insights into the dream you may have had.

Before I close
this book I must talk about one important matter. There is no greater technique
an actor can bring to his or her work than the truth. The actor must be aware
of this at all times. The actor must be true to the screenwriter, true to the
story, true to the scene, and most importantly, true to the character. Without
truth an actor is just a con artist. It’s a common assumption that acting is
lying. While it is correct that the actor is creating a character that he or
she may have never seen or heard of before, they are hardly lying: Quite the
contrary. As you have seen in this study, an actor goes through quite a process
to assure that he or she is not lying but telling us the truth.

In order for
the actor to truly portray their character, they must be true to that
character. In other words, if the character is a shy and withdrawn person, the
actor must play the part shy and withdrawn. It would be quite wrong for the
actor to play that character any other way. If the story moves in one
direction, say a character is slowly headed toward self-destruction, then the
actor must move in that direction as well. The actor must play the character in
such a way that they do not detract from who that character is. If the story is
about a real life character, then the need for truth and honesty becomes even
stronger. If you listen to actors during interviews, you will find that they are
extremely passionate about their characters: real or made up.

Truth is
powerful adversary if we chose to go against it because all nature backs it up.
Conversely, if we chose to have it on our side, then it will be a powerful ally
for the same reason. All nature backs it up. The great
Cecil B. DeMille
once said, “
It is impossible for us to break the
law. We can only break ourselves against the law
.” That is the nature of truth. To lie, we must go up
against truth and truth is a formidable enemy. Truth is the most powerful
element in any dream and the dreamer must remember that we cannot get around
it. We will only break ourselves if we try.

There’s another
aspect of truth that we don’t often think about—which is love. Love is the
premise by which all truth stands or falls. The best description I have for
love is that love will do what it can for the good of all parties represented, including
the sacrificing party. If I love you, then I will stand by you. I will offer to
help you. I will allow myself to be inconvenienced for you. All truth must be
presented in that state of love. For instance, if I tell you something I feel
is “wrong” about you, but there is no love there, then all I have done is
criticized you. There is no truth in criticism. There is no such thing as
criticism in love, which means that there will be no criticism in truth. That
doesn’t mean that the truth won’t shock us like a cold shower, but it does mean
that whatever truth says to us will be said only so that we can reverse our
sails back into the winds of truth, stop fighting it, and start flowing with
it.

So How Does
Myth Play Out in all of This?

We assume that
the word myth means “false,” or “a made up story,” or worse, “a lie.” The
reality is that the word myth actually means “truth.” Myth refers to a
traditional story of presumably historical events. These stories serve to
reveal part of the worldview of a people, or explain a practice, belief, or
natural phenomenon. In other words, myth is used to represent an aspect truth
in the common language of the people.

Your dreams
rely heavily on myth because myth is such a powerful form of communication. Any
dreamer interested in understanding his or her dreams should be aware of this. Your
dreams will draw on fantastic creatures and symbols. The Dreamwright has to
communicate eternal truth to a finite mindset and all indications are that
there is no easy way to do this. So the Dreamwright makes use of the one
element that works: what we call myth.

Carl Jung recognized
this when he traveled the world. He noticed that in every culture, in every
language, in every ethnicity, in every social group, and in every human, there
were certain common dream images and dream stories, as well as common
dreamscapes. He talked about images such as the Mandala, flying, falling,
serpents, and other forms of mythology. These symbols go back as far as
recorded history, and humans have struggled to understand them since they first
became conscious.

Myth is the
result of this process. Because humanity has been limited in their vocabulary,
and because they have been unable to put into words things that are so far
above them, they tied their truth to the symbolism of myth. Each symbol
represented an aspect of truth, and as their understanding of the world around
them changed, so did their symbols.

The steps we’ve
gone through in no way represent an exhaustive look at what an actor will do to
prepare for a role, but they should be just what you need to get you started opening
yourself up to your Dreamwright.

Beware of the
tendency to overanalyze a dream, especially as a beginner. If you get the “Aha”
then you’ve succeeded and you needn’t beat the dream to death trying to glean every
ounce of understanding from it. In my work with creativity I’ve learned that
perfectionism is not a trait that enhances creativity but one that destroys it.
Perfectionism robs us of the joy of creating and then watching that creation
evolve into whatever it chooses to become. Consider this, “Where would any of
us be if God were a perfectionist?”

I remember
after my first book, “The Warrior,” was released, one reader told me how a particular
section of the book affected him. He found such insight in one passage. I never
put his ideas into the story but that’s what he saw when he read the book. I
tell you that because the same is true with your Dreamwright. It is possible to
put more into the story than was originally intended. When this person told me
about his insight I never told him what I revealed to you. The reason was that
I was honored to have offered such insight and I didn’t want to ruin that.

Often, a writer
will have the honor of being told that something they wrote has had a profound
impact on the life of the reader. Whether it’s this way on purpose or not, the
writer is honored. The Dreamwright is no exception. The Dreamwright considers
your efforts to understand a wonderful reward for all the hard work and will
reward you with even more insightful Dreamplays in the course of the night.
These Dreamplays will address anything you ask them to, and will do so
willingly because of your interest in the work.

With that being
said, I’m going to leave you with just a few more things you can do with your
dream to help spark your creative understanding of your Dreamplay.

1.
     
Turn the dream
inside out and pretend the dream is real.

2.
     
Draw the dream frame
by frame as if it were a comic strip.

3.
     
Draw dream scenes.

4.
     
Act out the dream.

5.
     
Re-dream the dream
awake.

6.
     
Play the characters.

7.
     
Play the emotions.

8.
     
Play the props.

9.
     
Play the colors.

10.
 
Write a sequel
answering the questions left in the first dream.

11.
 
Pretend to be a
dream critic writing about the dream.

12.
 
Do a dream interview
with your dream characters.