Resilience - Living Courageously

By Simon Chadwick, Dramatic Resources trainer

Photography credit: Andrea Lungay

To prepare himself for his performance in The Pianist, Adrien Brody created a new existence to bring himself closer to the life of his character. He learnt to play the piano to an accomplished level, withdrew from society, gave up his car and home, and had minimal contact with humans. In the process, he lost his girlfriend and admits that he became seriously depressed – but the role did bag him an Oscar. 

I am not suggesting that everyone in business must be as consumed with their career as an actor is with theirs. However, I am offering the thought that we need to be determined, and to know what matters to us. My name is Simon Chadwick and I’m an actor and trainer with Dramatic Resources. In part two of this series on resilience, we will look at how an actor’s approach to Creativity and Health helps them cultivate resilience (and how you can do the same). 

If you missed Part 1, click here to read about the first two aspects – Ambition and Rehearsal.  

CREATIVITY    

To be mischievous, playful and inquisitive in a serious world – what's more resilient than that? Actors have a secret weapon in their creative toolkit, and that is the ability to maintain a sense of humour in the face of setbacks. Picasso said “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Actors are able to keep a childlike quality alive, and it helps us to develop characters, work with others, and stay fresh in our creative approach. 

In imaginary games, children know how to accept and build – we call it a “yes, and…” mindset. Imagine the story: “She went down to the woods one day and found a magic toad.” “Yes, and the toad could speak!” “Yes, and she stopped to speak to it”. This is essential to creative work. The story quickly dies if we respond with “yes, but…”. If I find myself saying “yes, but…” in response to a note from a director, I know that I’m blocking, being protective of my idea, or defensive. It is unhelpful in the creative process.  

Whilst saying “no” and challenging with reason is important, resilience sometimes means letting go of our ego in favour of creativity and collaboration. When we tap into our childlike nature and step out of defensiveness, we allow the magic to unfold.  

HEALTH 

The final pillar of resilience is health. Showbusiness is a uniquely tough industry due to the personal impact of rejection, and the intensity of the work itself. We are all familiar with the many tabloid stories of actors who have fallen on hard times, from addiction to mental health struggles.  

The actors who bounce back from the edge, survive, and sustain themselves are mentally and physically robust. Playing Hermia or Hamilton for eight shows a week in the West End is everything you wished for – and yet, it is extremely mentally and physically demanding. To be able to perform in a show as if it is your first time, every time, is testament to an actor’s resilience. 

“75% of being an actor is pure luck the rest is just endurance” said the screen actor Gene Hackman. The 25% is, by definition, the ability to experience and survive the hardships of the industry. How do they do it? 

Actors who are resilient learn to take care of themselves. They do a vocal and physical warm up before each show. They exercise regularly, eat well, and rest. They establish routines and work on themselves. They ask for help and get therapy when they need it. They remain open to receiving feedback; they see “bad” reviews as opinion, and not personal assaults. They seek food for the imagination: they read, watch others work, meditate…. and laugh.  

It's not easy. In the real world, life gets in the way, and it is hard to maintain all of the above. Fundamentally, working actors understand that you can’t take success for granted, for ‘this too shall pass’. You are only as good as your last job. 

A resilient person 

I am not saying that Ambition + Rehearsal + Creativity + Health = Resilience for all. 

But I now feel that it was brave to choose a life filled with risk, and uncertainty.  You do need an awful lot of courage, endurance and above all, effort, to become a resilient person.  

I hope that in exploring resilience through the lens of the actor, I have helped you to consider how we can cultivate resilience in our lives and businesses. We need to fail and practise and fail again. We must work to understand what supports us to thrive under the daily pressures of life. To have ambition, to find the rehearsal room, to not lose our childlike wonder, and to make time for our health – these are the keys to resilience, and not just for actors. I pass the baton, sharing Simon Callow’s words from years ago: “Courage, mon brave!”