In essence, “animal exercises” or “animal work” is a training technique that involves actors studying the movements and characteristics of animals, observed outside of the acting class, such as on a farm, in a zoo, or in nature. Lee Strasberg introduced the animal exercise into an actor’s training and preparation for a role. It is still taught today in most drama schools and really helps you to build a deeper physical characterisation of any role. Marlon Brando famously observed apes for his role as Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire, Lee J Cobb who played Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman watched elephants so he could create ‘the weight of the world on his shoulders’, Julia Roberts watched dogs in a dog shelter who had been victims of abuse for her role as abused wife Laura in Sleeping With The Enemy, even Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura watched pigeons for the role. The actual ‘animal exercise’ goes something like this. Choose an animal to study, or if you are working on a specific character then explore that character’s motivators and personality traits – try and find an animal whose traits most closely match that character’s. You next need to observe that animal – so get somewhere where you can watch that animal. The best place is of course, the zoo as you can spend hour after hour watching. If you can’t get to a zoo then head to YouTube it is full of nature videos where you can really examine the creature in its natural habitat. Don’t begin with imitation, spend a long time just observing. Be as specific as possible in your obesrvation of the animal. What is the creature’s posture? How does it move? When does it move and why does it move? Explore even the tiniest details. Start to imitate the animals physical behaviour, be as specific as possible.

1. Animal Exercises

8. Eagle Exercise

9. Giraffe Exercises

10. Bunny Exercise