The Great Acting Blog: “The Story Of The Tragic Actor”

The Great Acting Blog: “The Story Of The Tragic Actor”

I once got talking an actor who told me that he had landed the part of Mercutio in a touring production of Romeo and Juliet. I congratulated him, but he didn’t seem excited about playing the part at all, he only groaned; “but I’ve got all these lines to learn”, and looked at me for consolation. I felt sorry for him, not because of the lines, but because he focussed solely on this part of the work, and  he didn’t speak at all about his ambitions for the role, and he didn’t seem even vaguely interested in the rich and proud acting history he was about to become part of. Infact, he didn’t seem interested in playing Mercutio at all. Suddenly, I started to notice things about him,  primarily the one paced drone with which he spoke. Then I began to have my doubts about whether he had actually been cast in the role at all, or whether he had lied in order to masque those feelings of shame which unemployment can bring about. Certainly it was hard to imagine him being effective as Mercutio – how could he be thrilling in a part he wasn’t thrilled to be doing?

And what of the poor audiences up and down the land, who were about to have yet another tedious rendition of the Bard’s work inflicted upon them?

The tragedy of this actor is obvious.

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