Everyone I know who know who has been to drama school or knows an actor or a performer easily buys into the “drama” that exists in these environments and around the lives of performers.
But I have a theory.
If I took the corporate world as an example, there are rules; there is work place etiquette; there are guidelines outlined in our HR handbook. It isn’t often that you hear someone crying or shouting at a colleague in the office. It’s frowned upon. Being “professional” means putting work first and our emotions second. And that’s how most of the world lives their lives. Yes, we have family drama but blow-ups of epic proportions don’t happen nearly as often as they do on television. We are used to operating within a narrow emotional bandwidth.
Now take the performer, the actor, the singer, the creative. We live in a world where it is our JOB to explore, tap upon and express the emotional expanses of the human experience. It’s our job to evoke sorrow when Jean Valjean dies every night on “Les Miserables”; it’s our job to evoke unadulterated joy when the ABBA Megamix comes on at the end of “Mama Mia”. We are used to operating within a much wider emotional bandwidth.
Now what happens when these 2 worlds meet? In a word: “drama”.
So I’ve had to become extremely aware of my emotions and the way that I view the world, and be very careful about not imposing my world view on others. A big part of that is taking a step back, not reacting to everything that everyone says, listening and looking for what is possibly not being said rather than the words that are coming out of someone’s mouth. It involves choosing not to have a retort everytime someone says something I don’t agree with.
Many times, the drama happens within the creative community because people are used to a certain level of “truth”, which is actually an artificial environment, much like how the world on stage is - in many ways - an artificial environment. But it promotes a level of intimacy that most colleagues in the corporate never reach. And intimacy that is not founded on a true desire to connect with someone emotionally can be a recipe for disaster. Expectations are made and not met, trust is built and torn down in a day and ……. you guessed it - “drama” ensues.
Again, it’s about being aware of the environment. It’s not wrong. No one is wrong. It just is and drawing attention to it hopefully helps us control the one thing that we can in these situations: ourselves.
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My name is Eu Jin. I recently embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. A big supporter of personal growth, I also dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste. If you would like to find out more or share your thoughts, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website. Thank you very much!