Creation #4 is Exercise #1: Performing Actions with a Physical Disability

Acting Exercise: Perform a simple physical action that is made difficult by a physical disability as if your life depended on it.


Inspiration: There is a scene in "Kill Bill Vol. II" where Uma Thurman's character is attempting to eat a bowl of rice with chopsticks. A seemingly simple task made nearly impossible by her battered hands and state of total physical exhaustion. Why doesn't she just eat the rice with her hands? To do so would disappoint her kung fu teacher Pai Mei; the consequence of which would feel worse than death. The scene is about 5 minutes long, Thurman's character never says a word, and it is absolutely gripping.

Instructions:

1. Pick a physical action to perform.
2. Pick your physical disability.
3. "Script" a high-stakes situation where this would need to occur.
4. Set a timer for 5min. - The timer is there to keep you out of your head, you no longer have to direct the scene, you can just live it.
5. Take some time to really build up the scenario, make sure you have the important relationships.
6. Begin performing your physical action, don't stop until the action is complete or the timer has gone off.

An Example:

1. The action: Make the bed perfectly
2. The disability: Shot in my dominant shoulder
3. The situation: It's 10pm. I just murdered my wife's lover and stuffed his body under the bed. My wife, who works the night shift, just called to say she forgot her work keys and that she'll be back in 5min to pick them up. She's a nurse, she's anal-retentive about having a neatly made bed. I need to be in a perfectly made bed reading a book, with my right shoulder under the blankets, before she gets home so that she won't think anything is up.

Okay, if the above example seems a bit contrived, it's because I came up with it while getting ready for bed. Nonetheless it was a plausible enough situation that by the time I finished, my heart was pumping a mile a minute and I had a very tidy looking bed.