In the 2+ years I've been on this board, I've seen rude, obnoxious, witless, crude, and dramatically unfunny posters, and never once have I felt like blocking their posts, but you two and your constant exchange are making me NUTS.
I tried to read this thread, I really did - but I just couldn't.
SO, I can only add that I hope someone posted the story of Lord Olivier and Dustin while filming MARATHON MAN.
After watching Dustin go through all his machinations in preparation for a scene (which included running around the NYC block numerous times,) Larry said to him, "Wouldn't it be easier just to act?"
Yes, acting can be easy - for those so inclined. But you know what? You could say the same thing about life in general.
DG: in a conversational and roundabout way (no pun intended), the point Schlozinski is making is this: what makes acting hard, and what most people who've commented here have neglected to consider is that the emotions that MUST come across on stage are not the actor's but the playwright's. no matter what sort of emotional connection the actor makes with the character, if it isn't the one the author intends, it isn't acting, it's psychodrama. Updated On: 7/19/07 at 07:14 AM
I think acting is an innate ability that not all posses. Do we all feel? Yes, but who actually cares? Nobody coming to see a play cares how you feel. It is not moving to see somebody emote and not DO anything about it. We want to see people DOING, not just FEELING. The only way to DO in a way that is compelling is to do truthfully. You don't need huge life experiences to act. You need an imagination, you need something that means a great deal to you, you need the ABILITY to let yourself believe anything.
"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too."
- Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck