The Con Man and Acting
My friend said, well, all good actors are great liars. Wrong I said. She gave me a puzzled face. But surely she said, they tell lies all the time on stage. No, I said, they don’t at all. They tell the truth.
She gave me another puzzled look.
An actor tells the truth and the liar deceives. The con man wraps their lie in truth to help you buy it.
But the actor says stuff that they don’t mean all the time.
But their intention is different.
The con man attempts to deceive you.
The actor expects you to understand they are an actor, to suspend your disbelief and enjoy their performance.
The con man attempts to deceive you.
The actor responds truthfully in the moment and when they say words, they use them truthfully to affect the listener.
They don’t want to deceive the audience because the audience willingly suspend their disbelief.
Acting is lying and scamming isn’t acting.
To You, The Best!
Mark Westbrook
Senior Acting Coach
ACTING COACH SCOTLAND