Notes from A.R Gurney

I was re-reading A.R Gurney’s terrific piece ‘Love Letters’ and found myself at the back of the play, reading his Do’s and Dont’s for Producing Love Letters.

I won’t reproduce the whole list, but the last two are worth repeating and considering for all actors:

7. Avoid crying. Let the audience do the crying, if it feels like it.

8. Don’t mess around with the text. No embellishments, insertions, cuts, or silent mouthings, please. Trust what I wrote, perform it as written, and all will be well.

Think on these pieces if advice from Gurney whenever you work on a new script.