One of the key points for actors in John Cleese's lecture on creativity is the notion that we cannot be creative if we fear making mistakes. I believe this to be true, our creative juices just dry up in such situations. It's especially poignant for...
Never become known for one thing, never make your work all about doing a trick, like the actor known for doing a Scottish accent so he gets called in whenever there's a Scottish character. Some would call that "branding" but I call it reductive. Your...
Cleese says there are five factors needed for creativity: 1. Space. 2. Time. 3. Time 4. Confidence. 5. Humour.
1. Says we can't become playful and therefore creative if we're under our usual pressures. We have to create space for ourselves away from those demands....
I heard a great idea recently about accomplishing big, difficult objectives:
Don’t worry about whether you’re getting closer to the objective each day, rather compare where you are at today with yesterday. The point is that making this comparison enables us to see our progress, even if...
Five films from Rouzbeh Rashidi's Homo Sapiens Project played at the IndieCork Film Festival. The rest of HSPs play on Friday and Saturday between 1-7pm as part of the Festival....
This week, I had the sheer joy of watching not one, but TWO Hong Song Soo pictures at the theatre. Nobody's Daughter Haewon was the first of his films to ever receive a UK theatrical release. The double wammy happened because he made two films this year, and...
Feel as though nobody ever helped you out? Then make sure you help somebody whenever you're in a position to do so.
An associate was disloyal? Discard them, and choose loyalty whenever the opportunity for betrayal presents itself in the future.
If you get into a position...
"It was a process of writing that evolved over a few years, to the point where it's now being produced and performed. We want to talk about how the acting helped the process of writing."
Delighted to present The Great Acting Blog's inaugural podcast.
I speak to...
One of the toughest aspects of being an actor is worrying about the future, worrying about whether you'll work, whether you'll survive. The situation is compounded by the feeling that you lack control over your career and that you're impotent to influence events. Ironically however,...