The Impossible Task

I loved the impossible task. I want to do it every morning, seriously. If you don’t believe there is nothing in life that can challenge, frustrate and make you believe in something to a very intense extent, this is it. Everyone in the room was given a piece of paper in which to write down an 'impossible' task that simply could not be accomplished inside our classroom. I wrote down, for example: “open the window with your mind.” We were then told to try and achieve these tasks which was the most frustrating thing ever when you first know you can’t do it. My impossible task was to “dig a hole in the ground with your hands” and although you’re completely aware it’s impossible, with the help of our teacher screaming at us and demanding we try harder and that it was possible, I actually did begin to believe, hey, maybe I can do it! I dug with all my might until my fingers began to feel sore and when I felt like giving up I was told it wasn’t an option and to keep going. We did this for about 10 minutes, getting more and more tired and frustrated once we made no dent in completing the task we were given.

This task was an emphasis on Artaud's belief that it’s imperative to 'push an actor to their limits'. Artaud disagreed that acting was purely just a passion instead of a job and that actors had as much work to do in their profession – use as much energy, put in as much effort and time – as any other employees for example who built houses or laid carpets. I agree with this after trying to complete this task as I realised what we were doing represented the art of acting as a whole – as an actor we are forced to believe in something that we know isn’t true. If you’re playing Bob who cheats on his wife Sally, you have to believe you really did cheat on Sally even though you know it’s not true. A weak example, but you get my drift. It was challenging, in my opinion, but fun.