The Myth of Acting
Whenever I tell people my dream is to get everyone in the world on stage, there's someone who replies, "Oh, but I don't want to wear a mask."
There is this myth rampant, that good actors wear a mask, that what they're portraying isn't real, that it's all "play-acting".
Nothing can be further from the truth.
Have you ever watched a really good actor? I mean a really, really good one. Naseeruddin Shah comes to mind, playing George Bernard Shaw in "Dear Liar". Think of the unreal situation. Here's an Indian actor playing a British legend. The play is set over several decades and the actor "ages" on stage. And Naseeruddin did it with nothing more than a muffler. To see him age was such a delight, as his steps became shorter, his stance a bit bent and, I kid you not, he actually seemed to create wrinkles on his face as he aged.
A good actor doesn't "act" in the commonly understood meaning of the term. He doesn't portray, he IS! And by thus BEING, he takes you along with him into his world. You feel his pain, you delight in his delight. You enter the magical world of live theatre.
For the actor, the experience is mind altering. I cannot describe the sheer ENERGY you feel as an actor when you connect actor-character-audience. You are three people. Yes, you are the actor. You are also the character AND YOU ARE THE AUDIENCE. You can literally watch yourself and you watch how the audience reacts to you. It's a drug. It's why actors like Naseer and Anupam Kher take time out from their very lucrative screen jobs to appear live before such small audiences as a thousand people at a time.
If only I could get more people to experience that drug!
Deepak
There is this myth rampant, that good actors wear a mask, that what they're portraying isn't real, that it's all "play-acting".
Nothing can be further from the truth.
Have you ever watched a really good actor? I mean a really, really good one. Naseeruddin Shah comes to mind, playing George Bernard Shaw in "Dear Liar". Think of the unreal situation. Here's an Indian actor playing a British legend. The play is set over several decades and the actor "ages" on stage. And Naseeruddin did it with nothing more than a muffler. To see him age was such a delight, as his steps became shorter, his stance a bit bent and, I kid you not, he actually seemed to create wrinkles on his face as he aged.
A good actor doesn't "act" in the commonly understood meaning of the term. He doesn't portray, he IS! And by thus BEING, he takes you along with him into his world. You feel his pain, you delight in his delight. You enter the magical world of live theatre.
For the actor, the experience is mind altering. I cannot describe the sheer ENERGY you feel as an actor when you connect actor-character-audience. You are three people. Yes, you are the actor. You are also the character AND YOU ARE THE AUDIENCE. You can literally watch yourself and you watch how the audience reacts to you. It's a drug. It's why actors like Naseer and Anupam Kher take time out from their very lucrative screen jobs to appear live before such small audiences as a thousand people at a time.
If only I could get more people to experience that drug!
Deepak
posted by Deepak Morris at 9:53 PM
1 Comments:
Again..I have to agree with you...People have this misconception that acting is faking...I believe acting is just being some one else for a short period of time....To take from one's life and experience and use it to become some one else....
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