The Great Acting Blog: “The Power Of Idealism – Part 2”
Following on from my piece last week on Idealism, I wanted to define better what I thought idealism actually was, and came up with the following; Idealism is belief in an idea, which goes beyond career, or accolade, or material gain, and it is not only an idea we will absolutely refuse to compromise on, but the idea itself gives us the strength to refrain from compromising – in artistic terms,this idea may take the form of an aesthetic, or be the way that something should be done. It’s also about the end goal, a vision (leading to a quest to find out how to deliver that end).
Harold Pinter was told by a New York producer to “fix the third act of The Homecoming”, to wit Pinter replied; “what exactly did you have in mind”, the producer was non-plussed. The point being, Pinter did not bend or change a word of his play, even under pressure from The Money, because he believed in what the play was, and in the process he had been through in order to create the play. Had the producer pushed further, then I’m sure Pinter would have walked away with his play safely tucked under his arm. This is not an easy thing to do. For many of us, it would seem that simply having the opportunity at all to produce work is thrilling, regardless of the terms of that production. However, this way of thinking must be resisted, as it will, more likely than not, lead to betrayal and loathing.
For so many these days, ideas are not important, career is all, and anything may be undertaken in order to get that career, like subscribing to whatever popular formula happens to be knocking about at the time, regardless of it’s crassness and stupidity. We’ve only got to look at our politicians, who are absolutely terrified of standing for something, for believing in something, in case they become interesting and so alienate somebody. Instead, they pretend to be “normal”, hopping onto any populist bandwagon which might make them seem more “likeable”.* Of course this state of affairs isn’t limited to our politicians, the pattern is repeated right across our culture, and naturally includes our artists. This is why so much work produced these days is so uninspiring, yes it can be well made and all that, but there’s just something missing, and that something is the attempt to reach higher goals, goals which stretch beyond the material.
Idealistic work, warms us and makes us stronger in the same way a log fire does. This work may not proffer an idealistic point of view, but the idealism is embedded within the intentions of the artist, and therefore, everything he does, even his bleakest assessment, is coloured by it. It’s the difference between an actor who just says the lines because that’s his job, and an actor with a longing to communicate and make connection with an audience. We all can tell the difference between the two, it’s just that we don’t always choose to acknowledge it.
Idealism is about commitment, commitment to an idea, and that idea will, in turn, fuel us and make us stronger.
*there is little more flesh-crawling than seeing politicians pretend to be passionate about football.
