Someone once told you

The conventions of acting are part of our industry’s lore, set in stone, passed on, passed down.  They tell us what the norms are for our profession, and they become part of what passes for a craft.  But the conventions of acting are mainly nonsense.

If you ask people what acting is.. the responses are something like this:

Acting is the portrayal of true emotion.

Acting is becoming someone you are not.

Acting is living the life of the character.

Acting is walking in someone else’s shoes.

Acting is expressing the life of someone else.

Acting is the creation of a character, a whole other person.

Acting is becoming someone else and expressing their feelings.

It all seems pretty reasonable, you probably think something similar.  But where did you get that idea from?

You see someone once told you that, and you believed them. And so we have taken that knowledge for granted.  And why wouldn’t we? Your drama teacher told you, and they were a drama teacher, so they must know.  Your friend, who is an actor told you, and they are an actor, so they must know.  You saw a famous actor interviewed about how they once blah de blah, and they are a famous actor, so they must know.  You read a book on acting, a biography of an actor, you read somewhere on the internet, and they must know.  The trouble is… I think they mislead you.  I don’t think they knew.  I think they were guessing, guessing based on what someone once told them, and what they accepted as dogma.

I’m sorry, I don’t mean to denigrate your friend, drama teacher, or the book you purchased with well earned money.

The thing is that you believed it, for why wouldn’t you? You believed it because it seemed to kinda make sense.  It seemed reasonable.  And this reasonable common knowledge passes from person to person, and has become accepted knowledge, common knowledge, common sense.

And those of you that are actors bought into it.  I mean REALLY bought it into it.  I mean, you have tried to become someone else and feel their emotions, and even if it didn’t work, you’ve blamed yourself and STILL bought into it, believing that you yourself must be doing something wrong, while the others just ‘get it’.

Someone once told you what acting is, as they once told me.  And I read all the books, and took all the classes, and my critics say i didn’t understand them, and that’s my trouble.  I will admit it’s a possibility, as is the possibility that none of this life is real, just a shadow on the wall. But I do not think I am mistaken, or ill-educated, or lacking a fundamental grasp on all things acting. Nor do I think that fact that I am not famous has caused some wisdom to evade or elude me.

And so I want to tell you actors something.  Acting is not becoming someone else.  Nor is it feeling the feelings of someone else. Nor is it the creation of a character. For that is the job of the author.  It is not, and it never has been.  Yes, people have called it that, they’ve labelled it that, and they’ve convinced themselves that it is.  But it isn’t true.

Acting is simpler than that.  I’ve questioned it over and over.  Acting is doing, acting is simple, authentic doing.  Acting is authentic doing, a moment to moment improvisation, under certain conditions given in the scene.  That’s all it is.  It’s fun, it’s exciting and it’s scary as all hell.

It isn’t quite as glamorous, mysterious, elusive and high brow as all that other stuff makes it sound, and of course, that’s why people love it. It makes us feel important, no, it makes us feel superior, that we are part of the chosen tribe that can do the patently impossible.

But time marches on, things change, mountains crumble and that which we accepted as tradition yesterday, becomes laughably old-fashioned today.

Things change. Time to change with them.