The Sonic Sweep

A sonic sweep, like a submarine.”

"Not selective listening or waiting for your cue. A full, active, 360-degree sweep of everything that’s happening in the room, your scene partner, the ensemble, the audience, the energy between all of it and a constant, genuine attempt to respond to what’s actually there."

This quote is from an interview with the great actor Cate Blanchett. She studied the Meisner technique, which focuses on the art of listening above all. Actors trained in Meisner are keenly aware of what is happening with their scene partner as well as their character's ever-changing surroundings.

Here she talks about her own technique, which she calls a "sonic sweep". She is highly attuned to the entirety of her surroundings at all times, a supreme act of concentration she has developed into an instinct.

Effective acting requires the actor to become profoundly sensitive to surroundings and environment, with maximum focus on who they are in a relationship with onstage. In relation to acting technique, this is related to the idea that playing an effective action becomes a focus on changing the other person in a scene.

Declan Donnellan, in his landmark book "The Actor and the Target" agrees, urging actors to focus on the who and what they are trying to change as a character and to remain laser focused on this as they journey through the world of the play.

Distilled down, these concepts are about getting an actor out of themselves, their work, their "performance" and putting the focus on what surround them.

Work on this technique and you will find that your concentration increases, your interactions with scene partners will sharpen and your presence will improve.

A link to Donnellan's book: https://www.amazon.com/Actor-Target-New-Declan-Donnellan/dp/1559362855