Thoughts for classic actors...
So much about performance is about having a sense of time and place…it’s one of the things I find fascinating about theatre. As a director I demand of my actors that they know where their character is stood physically, historically, geographically and emotionally throughout the play…that’s one of the most important things that I am trying to develop through a rehearsal process…the thing is that, that one demand is ridiculously complex and incredibly difficult to achieve…however the closer you get to it the better your portrayal of that character will be and the richer the performance in general.
It occurred to me on Thursday that in your classics performances this necessity of time and place is even more important to consider. Even if you are just performing a small extract from a work you need to have made conscious decisions about the world that character inhabits…have an awareness of the constraints and realities of life in that time as well as having constructed an individual narrative for that character. It makes a difference to everything…physicality, voice, intention, interaction…everything.
Each moment of any work of literature, regardless of genre, has been carefully selected and created by a writer who then edited and reedited…stood up for what they believed in, fought for what they thought was important, fended of criticism and suggestions from those that thought they knew better and listened and responded to those who actually did until the work that you have used to inspire your performances emerged and what’s more showed the resilient to still speak to others 100’s of years later. There’s a temptation to think that because your extract is small it doesn’t require much thought…simply not true…any moment of theatre whatever length needs a significant amount of thought to do justice to the vision of the writer…
All this amounts ultimately as a request to you from your director…if all that I have said is true (and it is) then the least you can do whilst learning your lines for next Saturday (see what I did there) is spare a thought to time and place…and once you’ve spared a thought…act on that thought…imagine the richness of the classics performances if every performer has done this…it would be unforgettable…
It occurred to me on Thursday that in your classics performances this necessity of time and place is even more important to consider. Even if you are just performing a small extract from a work you need to have made conscious decisions about the world that character inhabits…have an awareness of the constraints and realities of life in that time as well as having constructed an individual narrative for that character. It makes a difference to everything…physicality, voice, intention, interaction…everything.
Each moment of any work of literature, regardless of genre, has been carefully selected and created by a writer who then edited and reedited…stood up for what they believed in, fought for what they thought was important, fended of criticism and suggestions from those that thought they knew better and listened and responded to those who actually did until the work that you have used to inspire your performances emerged and what’s more showed the resilient to still speak to others 100’s of years later. There’s a temptation to think that because your extract is small it doesn’t require much thought…simply not true…any moment of theatre whatever length needs a significant amount of thought to do justice to the vision of the writer…
All this amounts ultimately as a request to you from your director…if all that I have said is true (and it is) then the least you can do whilst learning your lines for next Saturday (see what I did there) is spare a thought to time and place…and once you’ve spared a thought…act on that thought…imagine the richness of the classics performances if every performer has done this…it would be unforgettable…
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