Using the Alba Method of Emotion in Character Development

Dr. Eric Hetzler

Abstract

In this paper, the author explains the Alba Method of Emotion and how it provides actors with an alternative to Emotion Memory. He then describes a developing teaching session where actors are given the opportunity to use this method while performing a short piece of text. The goal of this session was to examine how the Alba Method might affect the actors understanding of the character and the text. By using direct observations of the exercise and comments from the actors themselves, the author is able to conclude that this exercise is of value as it does provide a new way of approaching a character.

Introduction

When studying to become actors, students are often taught to use what Konstantin Stanislavski termed Emotion Memory in order to feel what their character is feeling. In simple terms, if the actor needs to feel a particular emotion for a moment in a performance for instance, they need to cry - then the actor remembers a moment in their own past when they were very sad and cried. By remembering this moment in exact detail, the emotion felt at that time will be felt again and the actor, in theory, will cry. This idea has been further developed over the years to become very specific in how actors are trained to utilise it. Lee Strasberg, who coined the term Method Acting took Stanislavskis idea and re-named it Affective Memory. He trained actors to remember in the minutest detail highly charged emotional events he wanted them to remember everything related to the event smells, sounds, temperature, etc. This would allow the actor to recreate the emotions that could then be used in performance.

Even though these ideas are still taught today and used by many actors, they are not without critics. Stanislavski himself abandoned the use of Emotion Memory because it made his actors hysterical. He noted that the repeated remembering of powerful emotional events actually made the actors upset and less capable of performing because they could not stay in control as the mind set up buffers. (Merlin 2001, p.11) Strasberg, rejecting this, felt that the memories simply needed to be older (at least 7 years) so that they could be controlled (Strasberg 1987, p. 149). He also felt that an emotion that old must be very powerful and therefore useful to the actor. Sanford Meisner, acting teacher and former colleague of Strasberg, noted that memories about events change over time something terribly embarrassing as a young person might, in later years, be seen as very funny which means that neither the memory nor the emotion can really be trusted (Meisner and Longwell 1987, p. 83). He also agreed that Emotion Memory can make an actor hysterical. This raises the question as to whether there might be a more effective way of working with emotions that does not upset the actor emotionally and will not lose efficacy over time. This paper will examine a relatively new approach that allows actors to explore emotions in a controlled and effective way.

The Alba Method of Emotion

There have been quite a few articles about the development of the Alba Method so I will not go too deeply into its history. To provide a simple explanation, as Beck notes:

In the 1970s a Chilean research group, led by neuroscientist Dr. Susanna Bloch, set out to examine the physiological changes that occur during the expression of human emotion by monitoring respiration, heart rate, blood pressure and changes in muscular tonus in subjects (a combination of patients, drama students and psychology students) who were reliving emotional experiences from their lives under hypnosis (Beck, 2010, p.143).

The research suggested the existence of auniqueassociation between particular bodily changes and a corresponding subjective experience (Bloch1991, p. 32). That is to say specific changes in the body related to particular emotional states. This led to Bloch and her colleagues:

wondering if the physiological experience of emotion could be aroused physically, without a real or imagined stimulus. They focused on the aspects of emotional expression that could be reproduced at will, and created prototypes of changes in respiration, posture, and facial expression, which they called "emotional effector patterns (Roxanne Rix in Watson, 2001, p.208).

Bloch and her cohorts developed six effector patterns which correspond to six specific basic emotions as Tenderness, Anger, Sensuality, Fear, Joy and Sadness, "because they correspond to universal invariants of behaviour - in a Darwinian sense - and are present in the animals and in the human infant," (Bloch & Lemeignan, 1992)[footnoteRef:1]. These emotions can all be created, consciously, by anyone who replicates the correct breathing pattern, facial expression, and physical postural attitude. There is also Neutral Breath. Neutral is the starting point, which has no connection to any of the emotional effector patterns. It is the first thing learned and it is returned to throughout the training as a way to come out of a pattern. [1: There is much debate about whether the six patterns are indeed basic emotions. For more specifics about this debate see Fox, E., (2008), Emotion Science: Cognitive and Neuroscientific Approaches to Understanding Human Emotions. London: Palgrave Macmillan and Blair, R., (2008), The Actor, Image and Action: Acting and Cognitive Neuroscience. London: Routledge. There are also some interesting observations about Alba in: Bloch, S., Orthous, P. and Santibez-H., G., (1988) Commentaries on Effector Patterns of Basic Emotions. Journal of Social and Biological Structures, 11, 201211.]

This training of the patterns was originally named the BOS method, having been named after the three primary researchers. However, it was later re-named Alba Emoting. The name Alba comes in part from a production of the House of Bernardo Alba that was produced using the new method for creating emotion. Today it is referred to as the Alba Method of Emotion as the term emoting was seen to be problematic in actor training circles.

In Alba, each emotion is created through a specific breathing pattern combined with a specific facial expression and physical posture. When performed correctly, these emotions are induced in the practitioner. For instance, to create the Sadness pattern, the actor breathes in through the nose in short, soft sniffs. This is followed by a long slow exhale through the mouth. The key for inducing the pattern is to keep exhaling until the lower abdominal muscles begin to contract/twitch involuntarily what Bloch calls saccades. The saccades begin when you are almost completely out of breath. Then, when there is no more breath to exhale come the short stepped intakes to inhale and the cycle is continued. Facially, the corners of the mouth pull down in a frown. Then there is the pinch. The eyebrows are drawn together in way that pinches the brow line. However this is a high pinch, created by first raising the brows and then contracting them towards centre. This movement can be quite difficult to find the first time as we dont often consciously use those muscles. While this is happening, the eyes should be looking downward. Then there is the postural attitude. The body slumps downward, allowing gravity to pull it towards the floor. The shoulders fall as the chest collapses inward adding pressure to the exhalation which allows more breath to escape.

Eventually, as the practitioner works with the pattern, they will begin to feel a profound sense of sadness and it is likely that tears will result. But they dont have to. At the beginning of the training the student focuses on making sure that each of the described aspects is being produced correctly rather than feeling the specific emotion. There will be flashes of the induced emotion and sometimes the trainee will describe feeling truly sad.

For each of the six patterns there is a specific set of actions that induce the emotion and to become adept at using them takes at least 30 hours of training. At that point, the practitioner is in what is termed the Robotic stage. This means that they are capable of breathing correctly, finding the proper muscles for the facial expression and putting the body into the correct posture on their own. They might not feel the emotion each time, but they are doing it all correctly. The next stage is Induction where the trainee does feel the emotions every time and needs no assistance from an instructor. They are capable of creating the correct breath, expression, and posture to induce the state. How long it takes to get to this stage is unique to each practitioner. Some might have no trouble with any of the patterns and some might have trouble with one in particular. Its very individual. The final stage is Integration where the practitioner can induce the emotion essentially at will. For instance, by simply creating the high pinch, the rest of the sadness pattern will automatically fall into place. In my case, the pinch immediately makes my eyes mist up before I have even shifted my breathing pattern.

Because Alba is a relatively young practice, it is important that we examine how it can be used beyond just learning to produce emotions at will. From an acting point of view, it seems of limited use since taking the time to create the pattern while in a scene with a partner would be rather awkward and even disruptive. There is also the case that in any given scene, a character is unlikely to be experiencing a single, pure emotion. Characters in plays, like real people, experience many different states of emotion over the course of a single conversation and shifts between them will likely be very subtle. This has been recognised by Alba teachers and practitioners and there is a great deal of work being conducted into the idea of mixing the patterns to create emotions beyond the basic six. Alba can be used in performance, but this is actually rather rare and has only been done when the entire cast was trained in the practice and everyone used the patterns throughout the performance (most recently in a production of Tennessee Williams one-act plays at UNC-Asheville directed by master teacher Laura Bond). Instead, exercises are being developed to be useful in rehearsals where actors can use the pattern work to explore the text and the character from a purely emotional perspective. This could be of great value to actors, as at present there is training in the psychology of a character (the Method-based approaches noted above) and there are the physical-based approaches (Laban, Grotowski, or Lecoq, etc.). Alba presents a third option where the character can be explored emotionally, but without the need to expose any personal psychological issues.

This makes it quite useful to have an alternative for actors to explore emotional moments. Rather than thinking about events that made them sad or angry, Alba allows the actor to develop pure emotional states without any other stimuli. The emotions happen because the body and breath are put directly into the emotional state. The key is that the actor is fully in control of the emotion. A memory of something terrible can bring up other memories or perhaps cause someone to lose control because the event being remembered might have been quite traumatic. But because each aspect of an Alba pattern is under conscious control, the actor can simply change their breathing or facial expression if the emotional state feels like it is too much (they are always taught to go to a Neutral breath if something in the pattern is not working). This conscious control is what makes it such a valuable tool for the actor.

Practical Uses of Alba

In this next section, I will examine a particular exercise that is a simple, yet potentially effective way of using the Alba patterns to explore a characters emotional pathway through a text. Known currently as Monologue Work or the Bubble-Up Exercise, the preparation for the exercise is to learn a short monologue an audition piece works fine, though a new piece can be learned if the individual prefers. The idea is that the actor should know the piece in an in-depth way, ideally having performed it before.

To begin, the actors perform their monologues as they have prepared them while being recorded. This gives the performer a baseline for the piece and reminds them of how it normally feels when being performed. Next, the actors take time to score their scripts for Alba patterns. This can be done in any way the actor sees fit. They can trace the emotions of the text, placing the anger pattern next to lines that are clearly angry, or they can be completely random in order to see what happens if the emotional pattern does not match the words being spoken. In a workshop environment, this is more about exploring the patterns with text, rather than working on the character for a specific performance. If this were a rehearsal, then there might be more emphasis on matching the patterns to the text so that the actor gets a better feel for the emotional arc of the character in that moment. It is possible, however, that working in opposition to the obvious emotion might also help the actor to make discoveries about the character that would not otherwise have been made. The potential for useful insights into the work could be quite high if the actor chose to score emotions that dont seem like the right ones for the moment. Therefore, actors are encouraged to think about the possibility of going against the expected emotions.

Once the patterns have been chosen and scored onto the text, the actors practice on their own or with partners to get a sense of how the patterns will need to transition from one to another in the reading. There is no need to be perfectly smooth, maintaining any of the rhythms of the text this is about the emotions, not the subtext or anything else. Its an opportunity to go deep into the emotions and feel what happens when saying the lines. Then, once the actors feel comfortable with what they have, they perform the pieces for the group again, but this time working from pattern to pattern based on the score they created. They might be working through all six patterns or they might only be using one or two its all dependent on how theyve scored it. And since they are working on the patterns and feeling the emotions, the monologue will likely take much longer than it normally would this is to be expected as the deeper they go into the patterns, it is hoped that they will gain deeper insights, so time is not an issue in this performance of the piece. When they finish the monologue using the patterns they immediately perform it again, but this time without the patterns. It is an opportunity to see what bubbles up in response to the emotions that are in the text having just engaged with it on a purely emotional level. It is expected that there will be some residual feelings from the pattern work which will affect this final reading, but in this case, the focus should be on the given circumstances of the monologue. Once the performances are done, the actors feed-back to each other about the experience. They are encouraged to talk about the differences that they noticed between the first run of the monologue and the final run. It should be noted that all three of the performances of the monologues are recorded so that following the discussion, they can then watch the recordings and see the differences between the first run of the monologue and the final. This allows them to see their own work with the patterns to gain a better understanding of their own development. Its a good way to see weaknesses in the pattern work as facial expression can be seen very clearly which helps understand the subtlety of some of the patterns.

In the recorded excerpts that follow, actors participating in a workshop in Huddersfield, UK in December of 2015 and Asheville, NC in June of 2015 perform this exercise. As will be discussed, we can observe each aspect of the work, seeing the original performance of the monologue, the run using Alba patterns, and then the final run allowing emotions to just bubble up. Each video has been edited down from its original length.

In the first clip we see Huddersfield student Chris Lomax working on a piece from Othello. It is important to note that the students were attempting this exercise after only 30 hours of training over the course of the term. Therefore, while he has a solid grip on the patterns, he is still in what we would call the robotic phase of the training.

Lomax Sequence - https://youtu.be/wzO8vR5QhAo

As we observe the Lomax performance, we see that there is a clear shift from the first to final performances. In the Alba scored run, he is working through Tenderness, Sensuality, and then Anger. As can be seen, he is much more deliberate in his delivery as he is working to stay within the patterns. In the final, un-patterned run, there is far more stillness physically than in his first performance, and he seems far more in touch with the meaning of the text. His Iago becomes far more alive and grounded than in the first run where it seems rather staged.

What follows next are some excerpts from the Asheville sessions. These monologues were performed at the end of an intensive of approximately 40 hours of training. Also, most of the participants had done 30 hours of training previously. Therefore they are more advanced in their use and understanding of the patterns than the Huddersfield students.

In the first clip, we see actor Kristin Clippard performing the beginning of her monologue. Then it shifts to the same section of the monologue, but using the Alba patterns. In this instance, she uses Sensuality, Fear, and Anger.

Clippard Sequence - https://youtu.be/nlkeAR2k2t4

As is clear in the recording, she is not focusing on the lines themselves. The rhythms of the Shakespearean text are lost as is some of the meaning. This is because she is concentrating on the pattern and maintaining the emotional state. As can be seen when she is in the Anger pattern, the intensity of the speech increases significantly as tension in introduced into the face and body. In the third part of the clip, she drops the patterns and works from the given circumstances allowing emotion to bubble up. There is a clear difference between the first run and the third. She is no longer forcing the action and emotions of the moment. She becomes far more grounded and far more real in her responses to the person she believes to be Antipholus.

In the second clip, Chaslee Schweitzer begins with a highly charged response to a man who has been struck by lightning. It is clearly a comedic opening that shifts into something more sentimental.

Schweitzer Sequence - https://youtu.be/qwKqrdzZWcE

In the second section, she begins the pattern work in Sensuality, shifts to Fear, and then Joy. Like Clippard, she is focused on the patterns, not the words. The change in delivery is very clear in the third run of the monologue. The over-the-top quality of her anger is much reduced and seems far more honest with her feelings. She is much closer to the invisible scene partner and seems to be feeling the situation far more than in the first run.

In the third clip, Michelle Shay is also presenting a piece from Shakespeare. But here, it is a far more dramatic reading as she lists the possible tortures that await her. She too, begins her pattern work in Sensuality, then moves to Anger, and then Fear.

Shay Sequence - https://youtu.be/cn5IQoQO1nM

What is interesting to the Alba practitioner watching this is that her anger is sometimes mixed with sadness as she draws the sides of her mouth downward. This varies throughout the time she is in the pattern, but it is also something that would be pointed out to her in the feedback session. When she presents the final run of the piece, there is a marked difference to the first. There is significantly more colour and dynamism in the performance. There is a greater sense of freedom in her work that was not there before.

Finally, in the fourth clip, we see Janice Orlandi.

Orlandi Sequence - https://youtu.be/EGP_RUCOOS0

Her first run of the piece seems very rooted and clear. In the pattern work, she uses Joy and the shifts to Anger. In this run, she is clearly making some interesting discoveries as there are pauses where the delivery of line is considered while she maintains the pattern. In the un-patterned run, there is, again, a big change from the first. There is a far greater sense of how she feels about the people she is talking to. There is an emotional richness that wasnt there the first time.

When we look at the comments made by some of the participants during the follow-up sessions, we initially see some concerns. Student Joey Langfield noted that Doing the patterns was at first alien how to split between breathing and the dialogue (Hetzler, December 2015). This is to be expected, particularly in actors just beginning their training. When speech is introduced, it creates a new level of complexity because when we speak, we need to breathe in a way that is likely different from an Alba emotion pattern, so the challenge becomes keeping the pattern breathing going while still speaking. One common issue arises when speaking in the Joy pattern (a quick inhale through the nose following by a stepped exhalation through the mouth). In order to speak, many participants often lose the pattern by inhaling through their mouths which we all do in our daily lives when speaking. This actually creates a mix with Fear which is induced by a sharp inhale through the mouth. It should be noted that if, in your daily life, you are laughing at something and inhale through your mouth it does not necessarily mean that you are suddenly afraid of something. It might be an element of surprise caused by the event, which is a low level form of fear, or you might not notice that you did it all when training in Alba, participants learn to notice these mixings and learn to control them in the patterns, whether they make changes in their daily lives is up to them. Of course all this raises the question of how do you inhale to speak while laughing? This is the challenge. And indeed, it should feel weird or alien because it is so very unnatural. With practice, it becomes more achievable and even less alien, as could be seen in several of the videos of actors that have more experience with the patterns. The actors pause the speech, inhale through the nose, and then continue. But since this section of the exercise is not about clarity of language, being able to speak clearly while in a pattern is not a necessity.

That said, there were some very interesting observations about the work. When discussing the final bubble up performance of the monologue, again student Joey Langfield said:

In the second time it felt like I had so much more energy, I was so much more aware, I could see you all moreby comparison, before I wasnt trying to connect. I thought I was, but that second time I felt like I, my character was so much more. I wanted to bring them into my world. It felt like the character inhabited my body more. I felt Mother Superior in me. (Hetzler, December 2015)

This was echoed by Chris Lomax:

It was so much different the second timeIve got it one way Ive always done itIts when you switch between patterns like Tenderness into Sensuality, it was that bridge that felt weird. When I did it straight afterwards, I did it completely different from before. I found myself smiling. It felt really good. It makes him so much more sinister hes always plotting. I think thats better. (Hetzler, December 2015)

Janice Orlandi said:

I found the humour and sarcasm and seduction. I never thought of seduction. This made so much sense to me. When I found out where that is in the piece and how that opened me up to whole other flavours of the speech. It was a great discovery. (Hetzler, June 2015)

Orlandi went on to add that It makes you feel more rooted. I felt more rooted. It helped to explore the colours. Chaslee Schweitzer noted that the clarity of the text during the bubble up was really changed from the first time. I mean, I got every word. I understood the intentions, but the text clarity was so clear. (Hetzler, June 2015) She also made an observation about watching the others perform with patterns that went against the expected emotion of the text.

Irrational choices fed into the action of what [she] was trying to accomplish. Fed her or made her have to try harder because something was trying to prevent her from getting what she wanted. So it was a nice internal struggle that was evident. (Hetzler, June 2015)

And student Charlotte Smith said that It felt more real. Tiny little moments came to fruition. This was also observed by the other participants who noted that they could see the cogs ticking away when watching Charlotte perform.

What the groups agreed very much about was that the all of performances of the monologues were far more embodied. As noted by Asheville instructor Laura Bond, they went from monochromatic to technicolour as each performer allowed the emotions to flow from the given circumstances. The pattern work keeps the actor from pushing. (Hetzler, June 2015) In the discussion, Bond noted, and most agreed, that actors performing monologues tend to push, becoming, in a sense desperate. That desperation is about getting the role or showing off to prove that they can act. But this pushing is what creates the un-embodied, monochromatic performance. (Hetzler, June 2015) The bubble-up exercise allows the performer to see new possibilities in the text for instance, Janice Orlandi feeling a sense of seduction in a piece that doesnt seem to have that specific emotional sense in it. And by using the Alba patterns, the actor can get away from the pushing that something like Emotion Memory can cause as the actors personal emotions mix with the emotions in the text. Instead, the actor is able to use the patterns to awaken the emotional senses and respond more naturally to the given circumstances which allows for greater embodiment.

Conclusions

It seems quite clear that the Bubble-up exercise has value for actors training in Alba. There is a perceived gain in the actors feelings of embodiment and connection to the characters they are working on. There is also a real sense of the discoveries that they are making when they shift from performing the monologues in the patterns to the purely given circumstances mode. This shift seems to allow the actors to feel freer in their performances which allows them to go deeper into the mind of the character and pull out new possibilities and develop new insights for performance without any sort of emotional hangover from digging up old emotional events.

What is also of note is that since they are not working with personal memories of emotions, they are freed from any negative connections to those states. They also have complete control over the emotions and can therefore, work more closely to the given circumstances of the moment rather than overlaying a remembered emotion. Thus, going back to when Janice Orlandi discovers seduction in the piece, it comes from a wholly organic place rather than a premeditated plan of action. The sense of seduction was not a clear part of the text she was working on. Rather, she found it by working from purely emotional states that derived from the Alba Patterns. It seems then, that using the Alba Method of Emotion can help actors to make exciting discoveries about their characters without the encumbrances that come from using Emotion Memory.

Bibliography

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Bloch, S., Orthous, P. & Santibez-H, G. (1987) Effector Patterns of Basic Emotions: A psychophysical method for training actors. Journal of Biological Structures 10: 1-19.

Bloch, Susana (1993) Alba Emoting: A Psychophysiological Technique to Help Actors Create and Control Real Emotions, Theatre Topics, 3: 2.

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Hetzler, Eric (2015) Ultimate Alba Workshop, University of North Carolina Asheville, June 2015.

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Stanislavsky, Konstantin (1961) Creating a Role, Trans. Elizabeth Hapgood. New York: Theatre Arts Books.

Strasberg, Lee (1987) A Dream of Passion: the Development of the Method. Boston: Little, Brown, & Company.

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