“I remember everything. I forget nothing. I write everything down so that later I’ll know exactly what happened.” – Thomas Klopper, The Book of Everything (by Richard Tulloch)

This past week, I have been working intensively on a play I am in, The Book of Everything. Being in the cast of a production has taught me so much about awareness and noticing, because I have to know myself and my surroundings well enough to be able to switch off my ‘ticks’, become my character and immerse myself in her world.

In the past week, here are some things I’ve noticed…

1. Ordinary noticing:
   1. Our director told each of us about our acting ticks. Mine are that I play with my hair when I’m nervous and there are times when I get distracted and come out of character for a couple of seconds. When he told me my ticks, I was vaguely aware of them, but I had never actively stopped to think about them before.
2. Marking:
   1. During each run, I made a mental note of all the cues to remember throughout the performance
   2. Each day we had a performance, I made a concerted effort to remember our pre-show cast rituals
   3. I thought about a key moment during each performance to tell the cast about afterwards, as part of a cast sharing tradition
3. Recording:
   1. After each run of the performance, I wrote down each of the points our director made about things that needed to be changed or improved upon
   2. At the end of the process, I wrote down a number of things I learnt from being a part of this performance because I want to remember the people and the experience, and be able to look back on it during the rehearsal process for future productions I hope to work on