The Great Acting Blog: “Destroy Career Ambivalence”
The danger for many actors is career ambivalence. This is a situation whereby they beaver away trying to get acting work but none is forthcoming. They end up with the bone-crushing insanity which comes from being dedicated to craft but without having the opportunity to apply that dedication in the arena. Anything could change at any moment but that moment just will not arrive, yet the actor must force himself on, remain focussed and keep himself ready. The option to quit is always available to him of course, and it is this, coupled with a prolonged period of unemployment which creates the ambivalence: “should I keep going and hope something turns up, or should I cut my losses and do something else?” This tension can infiltrate all that the actor does and impair his effectiveness, which in turn exacerbates his problem. It can be a strange and painful existence, and the net result for many actors is another year passing by without very much output.
The great tragedy of the acting profession then, is waste. Young actors, with all their energy and willingness, languish for years under-employed and unfulfilled. Eventually, they are ground down by the ambivalence and drift onto something else, frustrated.
The way out of this scenario is to set yourself a goal which is within your power to accomplish, and so energising that it destroys the ambivalence.
