FAQs on Acting and Actor Training Part 1

Dear Readers

Thanks for your tremendous support over the past six months, it’s great to be in contact with so many of you and hearing about your successes in the pursuit of your acting goals. I thought today I would help people that are new to the blog by answering some FAQs on Acting and Actor Training.

Should I go to University or Drama School in the UK?

If you’re already planning to fail in your acting career, and expecting to need a fall back plan, then go off to university. This will be a fun-packed three years of the mainly academic study of drama. Sort of like going to study ‘handyman sciences’ if you wanted to be a plumber. Drama courses make money for universities, so every second college now has a drama course. If you want to be a plumber, you go to plumbing schooling.  If you’re earnestly interested in learning about the history of drama. The trouble is that most young people say that they’re interested in all that, but actually they just love performing, directing or writing etc. Save yourself three years of debt and heart ache. Apply to Drama School.

What if I don’t get into Drama School?

This is the most frequent email that I get. It says ‘I REALLY want to Act’, but I can’t get into a reputable drama school. I usually say ‘How many did you apply to?’ and they say ’2′. There are at least 17 reputable recognised drama schools in the UK. You can find them through www.drama.ac.uk . If you don’t get in, I’d advise you to try again next year. But don’t spend the meantime visiting India, or working in your Auntie’s card shop or florist or something. No, you should be attending acting classes, getting audition training, figuring out how you can improve for next time, going to Open Days, researching the schools to find out which would best suit you.

There are a lot of small schools out there that don’t give degrees, well that’s fine too, because a degree won’t help you get an acting job in any way, shape or form. There are great places like The Actors Temple in London or GAMTA in Glasgow that whilst not degree bearing at present are exceptional places to train.

Which Acting Technique Works Best?

None. I think acting technique is a very personal thing. Technique is what we use when we can’t do it naturally. Certainly I believe in proper actor training although I’m always a bit dismayed that most UK-based training fails to teach a coherent technique, and rather chooses to throw an eclectic mix of ideas and techniques at the actor. I call this the linguini effect. Through a plate of linguini at the wall, and see what sticks.  I teach a highly pragmatic technique called Practical Aesthetics which is derived mainly from Stanislavski and Meisner, it was forged by playwright David Mamet and actor William H Macy. After years, teaching and directing using full-on Stanislavski, I found this the most direct, accessible and successful way for an actor to learn to act. It’s controversial because it upturns many popular beliefs and misconceptions about acting. Of course, for this reason, it’s much maligned and abused by other schools.

My belief is that Method acting is mainly mistaught – meaning that even those teachers that are teaching the real deal get tarred with the same brush as the poorly informed instructors. This lowers the general standard of acting. Personally, I’d rather chew my own limbs off than develop ‘belief in the imaginary’.