Sensei recently encouraged us to watch David Mamet's Redbelt. Mamet's style of writing--he has a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu--relies on leveraging the unstoppable inertia of inevitability.
This is the essence of praxis in tragedy.
The incomparably enigmatic Chiwetel Ejiofor play's Mamet's protaganist, Mike Terry. Terry, nearly a saint in this film, embodies Mamet's broader philosophy. As he says:
The incomparably enigmatic Chiwetel Ejiofor play's Mamet's protaganist, Mike Terry. Terry, nearly a saint in this film, embodies Mamet's broader philosophy. As he says:
"Everything has a force. Embrace it or deflect it. Why oppose it? Just turn to the side."
One can hear the ring of truth about this idea, no?
Mamet takes this exact approach to theatre in his famous book True and False in Acting: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor. In this text, he embraces Sanford Meisner's brilliant and economic epiphany: that acting is SIMPLY about practicing "the reality of (not) doing." In other words, acting is not doing anything until someone or something makes you do it.
As Mamet writes: “Preoccupation with effect is preoccupation with the self, and not only is it joyless, it’s a waste of time.”
Just take the heat off yourself by putting all your attention on the other. It works.
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