Authenticity
When I was younger, I was convinced by others that to act was to perform. To be like life, but larger, to be sincere but bigger, to project myself to a greater extent. But of course, no one told me how to do this thing, because no one knew. Don’t get me wrong, I listened attentively and paid attention to the instruction, but eventually I came to realise that these people were just passing bullshit down the line, like a turd floating down the river.
To act is not to perform. Not in the sense that I was taught. To act is to bring yourself to the moment and then the next. To act is to behave authentically and authentic behaviour is what matters. Authentic behaviour doesn’t look like performing. Performing looks insincere, we are always aware of the artifice and in some circumstances, it’s acceptable to us. But just as when we can tell someone is lying to us, when an actor sincerely tries to trick us with their lies, we feel disgruntled and conned.
Being an an actor means bringing yourself in the most authentic way to each moment of the scene. And the moment is ALWAYS ready to receive you. And your behaviour, if it is authentic will always be right for the moment. Whatever you do in the moment is always right for the moment. You cannot do anything wrong that is caused by the moment. Isn’t that a relief? Doesn’t that stop you having to worry about whether you were good or not.
An again, The Old Ham, the peddler of mystical bombast and bullshit protests: “It can’t be that simple, it takes years to perfect such authenticity through craft.”
Bullshit. You’re authentic now and you have been since you were issued from your Mother’s womb. Real acting, real authentic, sincere, truthful, genuine acting that has the power to move, to cause internal earthquakes in the audience, it is within all of us. It is not a trick, it is not a technique, it is not even a skill. You and I are doing it right now.
The trick, if there is one, is knowing how to do it under the stress and anxiety of the moment. Revealing the truth of our self, in the moment, for an audience, that’s the real hard work. But it’s possible, and as Macy says, guess what, you’re already sufficient.