The Great Acting Blog: “The Actor We Don’t Want To Become”
It’s a very strange experience when you haven’t seen an actor’s work for a number years, and then suddenly you do, and it’s obvious how much they’ve declined. Their old intensity and drive is replaced by a weariness, they are clearly not as focussed as they once were, or as committed, their old generosity is missing, they lack joy and they no longer seem to take any pleasure in their work. It’s very strange indeed.
What happened? Why does the work of so many actors decline as the years roll by? It’s not age, plenty of actors lose it in their thirties. Perhaps the daily grind of being an actor got to them and dulled their enthusiasm. Or maybe they overestimated the meaning and impact of the disappointments which are intrinsic to the actor’s life, daring no longer to dream or even to strive, but settling for a painless, limited mediocrity.
In most instances, we will never know the reasons for the decline, nor be able to do anything to arrest it. Nevertheless, we can make sure it doesn’t happen to us. In a blog the other day, we talked about creating a well of inspiration within us, in order to protect our connection to our work, to maintain our drive. In addition to people we admire, perhaps it’s worth storing images of these declining actors too, just to remind ourselves of what we don’t want to become.
Andrew Elias/ 22.01.2014
Interesting post James. The artistic director of a large and successful regional theatre told me a couple of years ago that he ‘struggled to get male actors over 40 to be in plays at the theatre as they had either become too successful to be in plays playing Equity rates, had given acting up because they hadn’t become successful, or were raging alcoholics’.
James/ 22.01.2014
Yes …. I heard something v similar from a producer friend of mind …. I just find the decline so deeply shocking.