Technique is the most important tool an actor has at hand.
After reading another chapter of "A Practical Handbook for the Actor," it has helped me to understand that, in order to fully portray a character to the best of my ability, I need to know the character, the given circumstances, and the objectives inside and out-- better than I know myself.
"Acting is living truthfully under the imaginary circumstances of a play."
When an actor knows exactly what is going on onstage, when, and why- that is when he can truly play his part. Even though it's easy to say this, being prepared to the max for a scene, and being able to improvise in case anything goes wrong-- and do all this without hurting the scene at hand, is most definitely not easy.
It takes quick thinking and preparedness to do all this without the audience realizing anything is wrong. However, technique does not enable a person to act, it only provides the tools that, when combined with everything else (bravery, passion, etc...), make for an incredible performance.
Reading about this also made me realize why I fell in love with acting. It's the rush that comes from being in front of people, and portraying someone completely different; being able to change anything at the last minute, because you've become this other person.
There's a certain adrenaline build-up when they clap for you, congratulating you on all the hard work you've put forth, and the fact that at that moment onstage, it does not matter how well you did in rehearsal, it's all about now.
One thing every actor should do to become better at his craft is to list his or her shortcomings; make a note of the things you know you were born with, and cannot change. But, honestly, who wants to be told what they're no good at? Well, after reading another chapter of A Practical Handbook For the Actor, I realized that it is a necessary action if one truly wants to improve his skills.
If you tell yourself "this is one of my shortcomings," it will be easier to understand that, instead of focusing on something that you can't change, you could devote yourself to everything else, including your "talent".
The authors put this very nicely:
"It makes sense to devote yourself only to those things which you have the capacity to change, and refrain from wasting your time, thought and energy on these things you can never affect."
Following the suggestion coming from this handbook, I decided which of the things I will no longer worry about, for I cannot change them- I made a mental list of my "shortcomings" that I should not waste my time and energy on- from now on, I will only try to improve the things worth improving, the ones that will be better for my future.
A Practical Handbook For the Actor. Boring. I've heard this before.
These are the thoughts I was expressing just a week ago when I picked up this book. I thought it would be the perfect choice for my drama blog project. It looked easy to read; however, I highly doubted it would help my acting skills at all- I mean, you learn by doing, right? Well, when this project was assigned, (one where the student must read a book that has to do with an interesting aspect of theatre, and blog about it), I took a glance at the simple handbook and thought, "why not?"
I figured I better start reading some of it soon, written by Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previto, and Scott Zigler, it seemed like a nice book- except for the cliché title. Be that as it may, I sat down yesterday and read the beginning, and, let me just clarify one thing, the title definitely does not do this book justice.
I was very surprised when I saw how well written it was, and pleased when I connected with the authors, feeling as though it had been written just for me. Here is an excerpt:
"Most acting training is based on shame and guilt. If you have studied acting, you have been asked to do exercises you didn't understand, and when you did them, ... you submitted guiltily to the criticism. You have also been asked to do exercises you did understand, but whose application to the craft of acting escaped you, and you were too ashamed to ask that their usefulness be explained.
As you did these exercises it seemed that everyone around you understood their purpose but you- so, guiltily, you learned to pretend ... While keeping up an outward show of perpetual study, you began to believe that no actual, practicable technique of acting existed, and this was the only possible belief supported by the evidence."
How did they know that?
It's true- every word- which is why I am reading this book. There must be a technique behind being a great actor- and I am very determined to find out what it is. I've spent years taking drama classes, yet, I've never been confident in my own abilities- I've always felt like I was missing something, and, hopefully, once I am finished reading this book, all that will change.
