LAMDA Techniques

Meisner technique, Laben efforts, animal characteristics, line learning - all of these techniques have been used in LAMDA lessons and can be reused for other rehearsal purposes or can be written about in coursework.

The Meisner technique is a basic dualogue or monologue delivered, seated, to a partner who choses when the actor is to change line and move onto the next line in the piece. If not, the actor must continually change intonation, focusing more on vocal skills but using physical too, to change the meaning of the line and the objectives, but more importantly tactics and actions behind the line (in a definition using the Stanislavski method.) This works amazingly for improvisation, demanding a coherent storyline that is still quite absurd and explores character interpretations. Once you have done a section with hugely bizarre variety, repeat the same section and take some already practiced intonations, and remember and apply the most successful.

Particularly when focusing on physicality you an actor can liken their movements to an animal and try and embody that within the character. This is a quick and simple method to remember physicality during a scene and ground yourself in a character. The Maniac for example, as an Arlecchino character, could be a small dog or monkey.

The Laben efforts are similarly physically rooted but can easily be applied to vocal skills. These represent the idea that movements and sounds can be designed by 8 different verbs with varying levels on strength, speed and action that essentially dictate the dynamic of the character. These are punch, dab, flick, wring, float, glide, press and slash, and each represent a clearly and intuitively different style of movement. When going over a text, you can divide it into units and assign each one a Laben effort to focus you on physicality again. The Maniac for example, would use lots of flicking movements (sudden, erratic, powerful and high energy), occasionally punching with politically raw lines, and sometimes gliding or pressing when on the phone and manipulating others. You can perform section with completely different efforts to explore these.