Published On a recent NPR broadcast of Fresh Air, host Terry Gross was interviewing veteran actor Michael Caine. Caine, a journeyman actor who has made over 70 films in his career, grew up in poverty (his family didn't have electricity until he was 9 years old) and never received any formal training for acting. He had to find ways of teaching himself his craft. Caine carefully observes people and, by watching behavior in real life, learns truths he incorporates into the roles he creates on the screen.
One particularly compelling story of his on-the-job training shows how he learned to really use the events and resources around him to his advantage. He was rehearsing a stage play and was to make his entrance upon cue from two actors currently carrying out a fight scene on stage. When he tried to pass through the door in the set he found it blocked by a chair that had been overturned during the scene. Because of this he missed his cue. The director started yelling at him and told him, "Use the difficulty!" Caine, of course, had no idea what the director was talking about.
"If it's a drama,” the director barked, “smash it! If it's a comedy, fall over it!"
COACHING POINT
All of us eventually find ourselves with some obstacle, large or small, that seems to block our path. Whatever the obstacle, a fresh perspective may help us to “use the difficulty” to our advantage. Caine’s entrance was barred: he could not get where he wanted to be as long as he did not understand how to use the difficulty present in the situation. The difficulty? In this case, it was the chair.
But what was that chair, really. The director lead him to understand that it was just another way of communicating within the context of the play, the conversation between the player and the audience. In a drama, it was something to be smashed; in a comedy, the seed of a pratfall. In either case, the obstacle was a way to make the message of the play even more real and palpable to the audience – a way to communicate.
The chair was just a chair that someone had thrown in his way. But the difficulty it presented, when really understood, gave Caine an opportunity to reach an even better level of communication than he might have created otherwise.
The next time you find yourself faced with a perplexing obstacle, instead of struggling with it, take a moment to just get to know it and ask, "How can I use this difficulty?”
If you can't find an answer, ask your coach to look at it with you. Sometimes all that is needed is another set of eyes!
February 25, 2003
Use the Difficulty
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