The State of Play

I am afraid to admit that the standard of acting in my adopted country is very poor. The critics seem easy pleased by competent performances that do not go a scratch deep. There is no craft, and the schools and colleges of drama do little to develop a craft, just stick to ancient acting principles, postmodern ideologies and Eastern arts, all taught in a way that is similar to throwing spaghetti bolognaise at the wall, the good bit isn’t necessarily the bit that sticks!

At present, as before, the UK prides itself on it’s acting talent, but there are probably only ten people that can actually tell you how to do it. Unlike other countries, the UK has no association to technique or practise. Russia had Stanislavski, Chekhov, Vakhtangov, Meyerhold and many others.

It’s as if actors are born and not developed which is horseshit.

But my point is the truth. On stage, I have so rarely seen organic, truthful acting. Recently I only see mugging, mumbling, performing and pantomime.

It makes me so sad, because none of this grabs you by the gut. It is fake, false, perhaps engaging the cerebra but never the viscera.

And that’s the goal, not to stimulate thought, that’s the academic model of good acting, but to stimulate the gut, to excite the senses.

Be honest how many times has this happened? Less than 5 in your life? Occasionally, and when it does, it’s like magic!

Right now, we are suffering, our storytelling is weak and our acting mostly fraudulent, false, mechanical.

So what’s to be done about it?