acting Archives — Page 32 of 56

The Great Acting Blog: “The Benefit Of Studying Our Heroes”

25.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 0 Comments

As we know, understanding what it is we're trying to do, understanding what our project is about, is crucial to making progress. Without that understanding we will be forever hamstrung in our efforts. One way of gaining this understanding, is by studying the work and careers...

The Great Acting Blog: “Work Shouldn’t Be Miserable”

23.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 2 Comments

Focus on what you enjoy. This is especially true for actors, who are constantly being told things like; "yes, but you've got to do years of garbage work in order to get the chance to do the stuff you enjoy". Why exactly? Why must we continually...

The Great Acting Blog: “Complex And Meaningful – Alec Guinness In Last Holiday”

23.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 77 Comments

Guinness plays downtrodden salesman, George Bird, who is given only a few weeks to live after being diagnosed with a rare condition called Lampington's Disease. He decides to enjoy what remaining time he has left, so he quits his job, withdraws all his money from...

The Great Acting Blog: “Courageous Acting”

21.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 82 Comments

The obsession with "doing emotions" in modern acting is little short of a disaster. It paints the character (and therefore the actor) as a victim, stripping him of dignity. Further, when an actor tries to squeeze emotion out of themselves, they turn inward rather than...

The Great Acting Blog: “Eliminate The Distractions, Be Great”

20.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 30 Comments

Getting acting work, getting any acting work, is a tricky task, as we all know. The numbers just don't stack-up, there are far too many actors for the volume of work available. There are the gilded few of course, who are in demand and make...

The Great Acting Blog: “Truth In Art And Politics”

19.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 0 Comments

This week I was invited to the wonderfully intimate Jermyn Street Theatre, to see David Pinner's The Potsdam Quartet. I have written my response below. In 1945, the "Big Four" of Stalin, Truman, Churchill and Atlee met at Potsdam where they decided how the world was...

The Great Acting Blog: “Why It’s Better To Be Serious Than Fake”

18.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 66 Comments

The neophyte actor wants validation, whether that comes via an agent, a casting director, a director, a filmmaker, other actors, it doesn't matter so long as it comes from whoever they want to please at the time. This, I believe, is the normal state of...

The Great Acting Blog: “The Exhilaration Of First Principles”

17.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 4 Comments

It helps to have some first principles to refer to when under pressure, and this is especially true for actors who spend much of their time buffeted by various winds. They help us to say no when we've been mis-sold, they help us to say...

The Great Acting Blog: “Choose Good Habits Of Work And Thought”

14.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 2 Comments

Confidence, focus, technique, practical philosophy. They're all a choice. We can choose to have them, or we can choose not to have them as the case may be. Without good habits of work and without good habits of thought though, you won't get very far, the field...

The Great Acting Blog: “Accept Yourself”

14.11.2013 , The Great Acting Blog , 1 Comment

It's comforting to continually question ourselves, to focus on our self-doubt, to focus on our short comings because it can be used as an excuse for inaction. The moment of truth is continually deferred, so we can walk around deluding ourselves that that thing we're...

Categories

acting Tag