The Anonymous Actor

Is acting an art or is it a craft? I never felt (that is, my ego never felt) that I belonged to this often class based guild of 'craft' acting and had to compensate by looking at it, as an art. By 'the craft' I mean in the first instance, 'class' or 'type' based acting. For example, classic middle-class acting - Hugh Grant, Emma Thomson, Colin Firth etc. Working class craft actors -Bob Hoskins Micheal Caine etc. And the actors who work on not class but 'inner rage' or 'near madness' - Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman. These fantastic master-craft actors approach all parts with the same technique - 'themselves'. When you see them you know instantly it is them and you focus on their craft, talent and ego.

Not so for the art actor - Anthony Sher for example. This actor changes according to the part. Always starting from the creation of character.( I will add more names to this as the blog develops)

It was the this 'art' that enabled me to over-come a dread of class judgement and lack of confidence. I had no desire to be me or represent my class on stage. The 'artist' was working, 'I' never did. 'I' was anonymous.

Confidence is the key to good and bad acting. Confidence can come from upbringing but it can also be a fickle mistress. I learned to work without it, or rather to use its absence to advantage and it is this that I teach today - working on the edge of confidence - the deep end, the drop off point into 'art' form. Removing or exposing the workings of the characters ego with ones own. (On the way I will explore the techniques of craft acting) The commercial profession is run by casting directors who simple do not care about your art - they don't know much about acting ether. It is more of a case of 'modeling' and it's not what I am talking about here but I will deconstruct it secrets.

Confidence has more to do with the craft. The ego performs not the character but the pathway to the 'art' is pure 'objective' acting. The power of the objective and the force of the 'obstacle' will produce the 'given circumstance'. If, that is, your emotional and imaginative response are free. In this blog I will show you how to enhance your 'art' Judge for yourself, as to how your acting improves. I will include video of actual teaching sessions of this hybrid system. Hybrid because it uses a range of modern - techniques with the original 'system' training of Stanislavski and Growtowski, replacing their now outdated behavioural techniques with cutting edge science. This is a voyage of discovery into the art of acting and the true humanity of theatre

Nor am I talking about the 'applied theatre'. often formed out of dedicated university drama departments, with the noble aim of taking practitioner led 'applied theatre' to the people. Beloved of the Arts Council because they tick the right agenda boxes, these groups often  form élites - and support theatrical ideological  gurus, such as Boal. Perhaps this applied theatre is the future but  the  'spectactor' is almost anti-art. Anybody can be a 'spectactor', the political agenda is the main criteria. Fantastic! I fully support this ethos. But it is not the 'art' I am looking for. It is a cousin, a close relative but not the thing itself. It is a craft. It is Brecht, Boal or perhaps therapy. I would not like to see either suffer and the expense of the other, they serve very different functions. Applied theatre is 'negotiated meaning' democratic agreement. Art is an exploitative interpretation by an artist or group of artists which transcends ideology. Very different.

All these questions come to this; what type of actor do you want to be and what are the fundamental areas of training you need? What in short is actors training in 2012? In this blog I am looking at new ways of training actors as 'artists'.