The Great Acting Blog: “Truly Creative Acting”

The Great Acting Blog: “Truly Creative Acting”

“The more ambivalent you are and the more uncertain you are, then you can get something that you cannot anticipate.” Elia Kazan

Kazan has been an important director for me not only because of his films but also because he unearthed a certain Mr Brando, who was one of the inspirations behind me going into acting originally. Moreover, I highly recommend the book “Kazan On Kazan”, it’s chock-full of insight and practical knowledge.

I was struck by the above quote because it rang true but didn’t give up it’s meaning easily. Effectively, Kazan is saying that going into a scene knowing exactly what you’re going to do, having each moment mapped out in advance (which is what “doing a character” is all about) dampens creativity because you’re not giving it a chance to flourish. The net result is a less spontaneous performance, less surprising and provocative. You’ll be sure of what it is you’re going to do in the scene but you’ll have less fun with it.

The more creative approach is to enter the scene only with an intention, and simply deal with whatever the other actors throw at you. Of course this approach creates more uncertainty, but that’s the point. It’s out of that uncertainty that the greatest creative moments come, the space created by uncertainty is where they can be given expression. Most techniques of acting are about controlling everything and reducing this uncertainty but that’s why so much acting is generalised and bland, unartistic.

The only technique that will allow the actor to enter the scene with the minimum but create to the maximum, is the technique of actions, and that’s why I continually advocate it. It’s the most creative technique and leads to the most provocative results. The action means that the actor can enter the scene with purpose and focus, it anchors everything the actor does but at the same time it frees him, he’s not carrying a “characterisation” around with him, which serves only to crowd out creative impulses. Doing actions means that the actor is able to perform at full tilt – the actor will truly be responding in the moment, and it is out of this spontaneity that wonderful, unanticipated moments will come. These moments are the poetry of acting, but they only happen if they are given a chance to.

I know that in modern acting it’s often difficult to be spontaneous. The industrialization of acting and the dominance of television has meant that creative acting is valued less. From the actor’s point of view, getting a job is tough, the temptation is to eliminate any kind of uncertainty or risk, especially in an audition situation where the pressure is on and the desire to avoid mistakes is acute. However, to walk into the scene with nothing and simply create something  is what acting is all about. Again, it’s up to the individual to decide what kind of actor he wants to be. If he wants to be a truly creative one, operating with full commitment in the moment, then he needs to develop a caste-iron technique, and that takes time and effort, but it is within his control. Most actors I come across don’t seem to be motivated to be that good, they’re happy to just trundle along, serving up their mediocrity every now and then, whenever they work.

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