Presence

I feel like I've blogged this topic before, but I must not have, because I checked a moment ago. Oh well.

At callbacks the other evening I was given a compliment from a friend of mine who was watching. She said I'd done so well reading that scene and that when I was up there I had "just... so much presence up there!" And I was thinking about it last night and that could be one of the highest forms of praise an actor can recieve. I'll tell you why.

Presence is hard to define, because it embodies so much that is intangible. People can have presence without being actors or artists of any kind - animals can have presence, everyday people can have presence. Someone who commands attention without trying, without knowing they're doing so.


From Anna Deavere Smith's Letters to a Young Artist:

"I agree presence is that feeling that the person onstage or in a film is standing right next to you. In film the presence blasts across the screen. Presence defies the limits of a person's body defies the limits of the actual space it takes up."

"Presence means you hold your own space, control the space around you, and sometimes welcome others into it."

About Laura Hutton, the first supermodel: "Her presence was the intensity of her gaze - not the expectation that others would be gazing at her."

"Real presence is the feeling that the person onstage is right next to you because you long to have them there. Or because you are terrified that they could come after you and get you in your seat. Monsters have presence. Godzilla had presence. Terrorists have presence. Osama bin Laden has presence.
Presence doesn't have to do with likability. Nor does being a provocateur guarantee presence."

"Presence can be magical. It can delight the people around you. Think of when you were a kid, and you had a favorite friend, or a favorite relative - something enchanted you - presence is enchanting. And it does not always have to do with what a person actually is. It is what you wish they were. There is myth in presence. This works for that which we wish embrace us, and it is the same fro that which we fear. There is magic in fear ... Presence is having a hold on the desires and fears of those around you."

"Presence requires being aware. Presence requires paying attention. Presence requires using your intelligence. Presence requires allowing others to make an impact on you. This means putting your mind on them, not just on yourself."

"Presence will probably, in the near future, be based on absolute authenticity. Whoever can achieve that in a world of brands, and seductions, and false promises, and addictions to false loves, will truly be charismatic."

And finally,

"Presence is an invitation."