Actor and writer Benjamin Kelm taps himself repeatedly about the face as he repeats the mantra, “You can do it, you can do it , you can do it. You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to be afraid.”
Kelm embodies the highs and lows of his emotional journey
It’s known as the Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. He was taught it as a way of building self confidence and deploys the strategy when he feels, challenged, under threat or is in any way nervous, as he is for much of the time in his play Far From Home Close To Love.
Born in Germany, he wasn’t a stranger to travel, having lived in London and Los Angeles. Now he is fulfilling his dream of living in New York. The nerves kick in as he approaches the immigration officer at the airport, who is not the most welcoming of people, but after a few misunderstandings he passes through the gate and his dream becomes a reality.
He goes on to recount his impressions of the city and selected experiences, starting with a rather distasteful incident on the train, then an unfortunate encounter with two men on the street and his home being broken into. For company he often goes on walking tours in order to meet people, but even there and amongst the bustling throngs of the Big Apple, he always has a sense of isolation. Longingly, he remembers his family and friends back in Germany in which he finds comfort, but also degree of frustraion. He takes to writing poems to give voice to his feelings of loneliness and as a record of what befalls him. These he recites from the scraps of paper on which they are scribbled. His narrative is accompanied by recordings of background sounds and noises he made on his journeys to various locations around the city.
Kelm embodies the highs and lows of his emotional journey allowing us into his world and giving an insight into adjusting to life a strange city. His English is spoken with a strong German accent and acts throughout as a reminder that here is a man trying to make his way another country and rediscover himself in a new setting; a man who ultimately looks forward to the rest of his life with a new-found hope and with many of his fears overcome.
