The Great Acting Blog: “Exploration And Discovery”

The Great Acting Blog: “Exploration And Discovery”

Sometimes it seems, a role is too well cast. The actor fits the character too perfectly. After doing a thorough analysis, the director has a very specific and precisely articulated idea about what he wants the character to be. So he searches for an actor who is an exact fit for his idea.

This is all great, except that when we eventually see the actor in the performance there is a lack of struggle, there is no exploration, we get no sense that the actor is stepping into the unknown. Consequently the performance feels safe (regardless of it’s calibre), it’s as though the game is rigged.

This is partly the result of the director’s own fear of criticism: he must find an actor who fulfils the character absolutely, more than absolutely if possible, so that it becomes impossible to complain. It is also a quest for dominance, his dominance over the material, his ideas must be strictly implemented with no room for additional creative input. This kind of director has already made the piece in his head.

The net result is a very rational piece of work, one which may be correctly made but fails to inspire and lacks the vitality which accompanies creative discovery. It’s not important that the actor be the character, infact there is no character, there is only a bunch of actions. Afterall, how many actors have played Hamlet successfully over the past several hundred years? Furthermore, the director’s notion of what the character is is only a result of his subconscious reacting to the script – there is no definitive vision.

The actor must be given license to explore and make discoveries, this is what leads to truly great work.

Subscribe to The Great Acting Blog