jonno roberts

In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the value and power of empathy and EQ (emotional ‘intelligence’) in all aspects of social and working life.  Doctors with high empathy scores are more likely to have their patients follow a prescribed course of treatment; executives and corporate teams with high EQ are more productive and retain staff longer; empathic families are happier, healthier, and more resilient.  Right now, however, our society is facing a crisis of empathy. The loudest voices are raised in anger and division, rather than unity and shared humanity. 

I had been following the academic literature on this topic for a number of years out of sheer intellectual curiosity when I realised that acting - at least the way I have come to practice and teach it - is nothing but olympic-level empathy performed before an audience.  Empathy isn’t part of my job. Empathy is my job. The base technical aspects -- learning lines, standing on the right mark -- are not too demanding for most people.  It is the ability to invest one’s complete emotional and intellectual being in the imaginary circumstance and the performer opposite you that makes any actor great.  This ability, this supercharged empathic connection, is what makes us return again and again to movie houses and theatres.

Over the quarter century I have spent as a professional actor I have had to learn many techniques and skills. I’ve worked with some of the most demanding theatre directors from the US, Europe and Russia, and earned a Masters degree from the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. Yet it was only as I moved beyond acting technique that I was able to truly engage with the complex characters I was asked to play on Broadway and in major theatres around the US (or even in TV cop shows and comedies).  It was in throwing away ‘skill’ and embracing utter simplicity that I was able to become a better actor.

The same has happened with my students.  More and more, I have found myself teaching connection and empathy more than any traditional acting ‘skill’. I’m demanding that my students become better humans, rather than better actors — and I’m watching their acting become magnificent.  This work has been so rewarding that it has now moved my attention away from my lifelong passion for theatre and towards helping non-actors who are looking to develop their empathy and EQ.  

Hence the Empathy Gym. 

If you want to develop real physical strength, it takes conscious effort and a small number of very simple old exercises.  The Empathy Gym is the same: proven exercises; brief, focused intensity; and real benefits.  Simplicity works.  And in the meantime, you’ll be building connection, community and happiness in the world - which is all acting was ever about for me, anyway. 

If you’re interested, contact me here.