Acting in Australia
There are some brilliant Actors in Australia. Oh sure, there are those that you’ve heard of – like Sam Worthington, Cate Blanchette, Geoffrey Rush. All wonderful Actors. They’re the conspicuous, bright coloured fruit on top of the tree. They get plenty of sunshine, and they are considered the pick of the bunch.
In Australia, we have a history of community. By that, I mean we tend to have an egalitarian view of the world. We call it “The Fair Go”. When this is interwoven into the fabric of theatre or screen, it can’t help but be present. Read more
More Thoughts on Acting by Actors
Acting is half shame, half glory. Shame at exhibiting yourself, glory when you can forget yourself – Sir John Gielgud
I’m looking for the truth. The audience doesn’t ome to see you, they come to see themselves – Julianne Moore
I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being – Oscar Wilde
A lot of young actors will do a scene and then run off and look at themselves. I don’t believe in that at all – Charlotte Rampling
Find in yourself those human things which are universal – Sanford Meisner
I love strange choices. I’m always interested in people who depart from what is expected of them and go into new territory – Cate Blanchett
Honesty isn’t enough for me. That becomes very boring. If you can convince people what you’re doing is real and it’s also bigger than life — that’s exciting – Gene Hackman
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. You become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions – Aristotle
When [actors] are talking, they are servants of the dramatist. It is what they can show the audience when they are not talking that reveals the fine actor – Cedric Hardwicke
Acting is a question of absorbing other people’s personalities and adding some of your own experience – Jean-Paul Sartre
One of the things I like about my profession, and that I find healthy, is that one constantly has to break oneself to pieces – Liv Ullmann
An actor must interpret life, and in order to do so he must be willing to accept all experiences that life can offer – Marlon Brando
For fast acting relief, try slowing down – Lily Tomlin
I love acting – truly my favourite people are actors – Sean Penn
Some Thoughts on Acting by Actors
Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different – Meryl Streep
Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made – George Burns
We must overcome the notion that we must be regular…it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre – Uta Hagan
Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult – Lord Laurence Olivier
Acting isn’t really a creative profession. It’s an interpretative one – Paul Newman
Acting is an expression of a neurotic impulse – Marlon Brando
The better the actor the more stupid he is – Truman Capote
The talent is in the choices – Robert De Niro
Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you’re playing through your own experience – so we’re all different – Sir Ian McKellen
Without wonder and insight, acting is just a trade. With it, it becomes creation – Bette Davis
I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time – Orson Welles
Look, I’m not odd. I’m just trying to be an actor; not a movie star, an actor – Montgomery Clift
I only do this because I’m having fun. The day I stop having fun, I’ll just walk away – Heath Ledger
I won’t quit until I get run over by a truck, a producer or a critic – Jack Lemmon
For me, acting is not an all-consuming thing, except for the moment when I am actually doing it – William Holden
Acting – what an ugly word! If it were merely a question of acting, I feel that I could never have done it, and could never do it again – Elenora Duse
The actor cannot afford to look only to his own life for all his material nor pull strictly from his own experience to find his acting choices and feelings – Stella Adler
If you want to work on your acting, work on yourself – Anton Chekhov
On The Set
Have you heard… Oh, sorry… Happy New Year. Now where was I? Oh yes, have you heard about those Actors who roll up onto a set with nothin’ but their personalities? They might have prepared their lines and got them down just fine, and they might have just what the Director needs for the gig, even invented a few extra lines and jazzed up some business in their scene, but believe it or not, there are a couple of REALLY IMPORTANT things you should have with you at all times on the set. Read more
Greasy Seasonings!
Filed under: Acting, Cafe Critique, Food, I'm not sure, Life, Literature, Mates, Politics, Remembrance, Yada Yada Yada, nostalgia, poetry
To all who have visited my site (mispelt ’sight’), and even those who haven’t, may your seasons be unmentionably pleasant.
Happy Holidays
Gettin’ Down
You know that thing about Actors being a fraternity? How we’re all in it together and, although it’s very competitive, that it’s great when you’re in the company of your peers? Makes you feel all fuzzy inside, don’t it? Well, it’s a warm feeling alright. It comes from a feeling that we’ve chosen such a specialised field, and because the unemployment rate is so high, we appreciate the suffering of our fellows, and how lucky we are to be working. Yeah, it’s a wonderful thing.
I want to let you in on a less-known, hardly ever talked-about thing that also happens. Read more
That Moment
It is quite clear to me that acting is about doing what is required. We don’t have to think about who our character is – as David Mamet says, “there is no character. There are just lines on a page”. Why get all muddled and mixed up about stuff like emotional memory or sense memory? It’s just bulls#*t. When we let go and just do the stuff we’re required to do, it really is bloody easy.
I was in an improvised scene recently and a moment came, and it really proves the point exactly. Being impro, there was no script, just a scenario wherein I was to go with whatever came up.
Because I know what I’m doing, I was at ease with the situation and, feeling free and loose, it was no problem when something surprising came up. Read more
Lots Hap’nin’
This fortnight, I have the rare pleasure to report that I’ve been either booked for or have completed 10 Acting jobs and auditions. I think the world is catching on. I’m loving it.
Training
Recently I experienced an encounter which happens from time to time. It concerns what I see as such a serious threat that, like some virus, if it is not identified for what it is, it spreads and spreads and can virtually render a body inert. The body? Acting. The threat?
An Actors Problem
There’s a problem / dilemma / question that arises most frequently when we come to an audition with a new piece that we’ve learned to be greeted by a Director we’ve never met: “What does she want?”. I often meet Actors contorted into all shapes and sizes of anxiety about how to squeeze themselves into, again, all shapes and sizes of what the Director might want. It seems to me that some Actors would love to be all things to all people. Are you KIDDING? Read more
