The Art of Death

I am not proposing to discuss the rather morbid topic of Death as Art (as in sculpture or the like), more the Art of Dying itself. I have only once before ever played a corpse, and that was in a piece devised and written by the first incarnation of the Stirling Theatre Youth group, called "The Shelter". Since then, I have never played a corpse let alone play someone dying, although I came close in "I Hate Hamlet" where I acted a Fake Dying scene.

Acting pain is not as easy as it may seem. The natural inclination would be to scream and moan a lot. Heck, that was mine. I recall an Interview with Christopher Lee regarding his death scene in the Extended version of LOTR-The Return of the King. According to his research, when someone is stabbed in the back, they are more likely to lean forward slightly and simply take in a sudden, sharp breath than to actually scream out loud.

Incidentally, when being stabbed, shot, punched, the body's instinctual response is to immediately draw away from the point of threat/pain (which makes good sense) but it is specifically the body part being attacked that tends to move. The rest appears to take a fraction of a second to realise something is going on before following behind.

Pain has a very interesting effect on the vocal chords. How many times have you cut yourself yet have not become aware of it until long after the incident? Then, when you have become aware of, it suddenly hurts and won't let you forget it? Additionally, when you are "In the heat of the moment" and you have your system charged with Adrenaline, you are less likely to be aware of any pain or injuries until you have a moment to reflect, consciously. Once that happens, you find it hard to think of anything else but your wounds!

With this perspective, there is a widely held belief that pain can be controlled though mental focus. Quote Blain (Jesse Ventura) from Predator - "I ain't got time to bleed."

Just wanted to add that bit in. No other reason.

Acting out these thoughts seems unreal or unnatural because your rational mind is saying, you're meant to be in pain here! IT HURTS! There are just so many things that the body and mind does when it is injured that are near impossible to act, internally and externally. All you have is your experience, imagination and rational. Oh, and hopefully your director or resident expert.

So that means I have 3 and a half weeks to learn how to die well and convincingly, not look like a total ham or pork-chop. It would be a very sad thing if I were to cap off a brilliant fight scene (Thank you Andy Fraser) with a weak-as-water death scene.

In the words of Romeo - "On lusty gentlemen!"