The Great Acting Blog: “Becoming An Actor Is Largely About Answering Questions”
Do I really want to be an actor, or is it just an idea in my head that will pass in time? Once that has been answered positively, the new question will be...
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The Great Acting Blog: “Why The Truth Is Important”
The audience will only experience our work as it is, no more no less. That's why it's so important to strive for truth in our work. If the work is true, the audience's experience will be true. But if the work is false, then the audiences'...
Read MoreThe Great Acting Blog: “The Extraordinary Poetry Of A Great Actor’s Face”
When a general fatigue sets in, when we start to feel emotionally deprived, it means that it's time to nourish ourselves with the things that fascinate us and inspire us - reading, knowledge, cinema, music, new ideas, whatever does it for you. Our mind and spirit...
Read MoreThe Great Acting Blog: “Wise Words From 5 Great Novelists”
In many respects, it is preferable to learn from those who belong to a different field than our own. Our view is less prejudiced because the insight offered is not intended to influence specifically what we do, there is no intent to manipulate - an...
Read MoreDon’t Wait For Permission | The Great Acting Blog
I recently saw Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise on the big screen at the BFI, it's been a long-time favourite film of mine, and I was delighted to finally be able to see it in a theatre. Jarmusch made the film in the early 80s using...
Read MoreThe Great Acting Blog: “Deliver Special Work – A Lesson From A Spotify Gimmick”
As I was walking by Shoreditch High Street station, I was stopped by a representative from Spotify, asking me if I'd like to "recommend-a-song". They had a musician stationed on the pavement with a big Spotify sign behind him, and he was playing songs requested...
Read MoreThe Great Acting Blog: “Artistic Actors, Mediocre Actors & Personal Truth”
Mediocre actors don't bother with the finer points of their work. They don't think it matters because they don't think anyone is paying close enough attention. They're ham-fisted, obvious, and serve-up only what has worked before, re-creating rather than creating. The artistic actor however, deals in personal...
Read MoreThe Great Acting Blog: “There Are No Perfect Choices”
Which ever direction you choose, there's almost always a trade-off, you gain one thing but you lose something else. There's rarely a perfect option. That's why it's important to prioritise what you want from your work: what is it that you want? Artistic control? Money?...
Read MoreThe Great Acting Blog: “Find Out What Needs To Be Improved”
In elite sport, coaches sometimes throw a young, untried player into the first team in order to find out what needs to be improved, and so turn him into the finished article. The coach does not expect the player to be successful at this stage...
Read MoreEssential Action – What Is It And Why Is It Important For The Scene?
Once we've answered the question; what is literally happening in the scene?, the next step is to determine what the essential action of the scene is, the action we are actually going to do in the scene. Note that the literal action in the scene, is...
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