Clown
We're all buckling under the worry of not being funny, except the happy few who do manage to make people laugh. And the teachers are giving us an 'only a few weeks left' hard time. They do not need to give me an 'only a few weeks left' hard time. I am well aware that we only have three more weeks of being taught and then the soiree and then the commands, and that clown is almost at an end and I've in no way cracked it.
And paranoidly I feel that everyone has several exciting things lined up and I have nothing. Talking to A**** last night he was very much in the 'I can't wait to get out there line'. I've already been out there and now I want to stay in here for a bit longer. I know how scary out there is, but don't take my word for it. I'm re-reading Peter Brook's 'The Empty Space' which I highly recommend to those of you who haven't (and Phillip Roth's The Plot against America which is also excellent, in fact anything by Roth is pretty much guaranteed to be good).
I first read 'The Empty Space' the last time I was at drama school, so about 10 years ago. I get it a lot better now. Some of it is so apt and precise it makes me laugh out loud.
(on bad theatre)
'Almost every season in most theatre-loving towns, there is one great success that defies these rules; one play that succeeds not despite of but because of dullness. After all, one associates culture and long speeches with the sensation of being bored, so conversely, just the right degree of boringness is a reassuring guarantee of a worthwhile event.'
My friend S**** was telling me this weekend about a play at the Almedia in London that had had rave reviews and she went with a friend and got very bored. Her friend,who is an actress, wouldn't reply and was very shifty when she said this to her and after they left said, 'I can't say anything when we're in a theatre. I always think I might be sitting next to a casting director and I might suddenly have an audition with them the next day and what would they think if they'd heard me bitching about a play they'd cast'.
You see how mad actors are? Brook again:
'In England, it seems suddenly that we have a marvellous new breed of young actors- we feel we are witnessing two lines of men in a factory facing opposite directions: one line shuffles out grey, tired; the other strides forward fresh and vital. We get the impression that one line is better than the other, that the lively line is made of better stock. This is partly ture, but in the end the new shift will be as tired and grey as the old; it is an inevitable result of certain conditions that have not yet changed. the tragedy is that the professional status of actors over the age of thirty is seldom a true reflection of their talents. There are countloess actors who never have the chance to develop their inborn potential to its proper fruition.'
I am one of these old, sad tired actors over the age of 30 who knows that they're not one of the very gifted and a part of me wonders if it's all worth it at all. I mean, if I can't get clown, why even bother?
On the other hand that is very defeatest and I still have two days left so I'm going to go for a swim and buy a new clown costume.
And paranoidly I feel that everyone has several exciting things lined up and I have nothing. Talking to A**** last night he was very much in the 'I can't wait to get out there line'. I've already been out there and now I want to stay in here for a bit longer. I know how scary out there is, but don't take my word for it. I'm re-reading Peter Brook's 'The Empty Space' which I highly recommend to those of you who haven't (and Phillip Roth's The Plot against America which is also excellent, in fact anything by Roth is pretty much guaranteed to be good).
I first read 'The Empty Space' the last time I was at drama school, so about 10 years ago. I get it a lot better now. Some of it is so apt and precise it makes me laugh out loud.
(on bad theatre)
'Almost every season in most theatre-loving towns, there is one great success that defies these rules; one play that succeeds not despite of but because of dullness. After all, one associates culture and long speeches with the sensation of being bored, so conversely, just the right degree of boringness is a reassuring guarantee of a worthwhile event.'
My friend S**** was telling me this weekend about a play at the Almedia in London that had had rave reviews and she went with a friend and got very bored. Her friend,who is an actress, wouldn't reply and was very shifty when she said this to her and after they left said, 'I can't say anything when we're in a theatre. I always think I might be sitting next to a casting director and I might suddenly have an audition with them the next day and what would they think if they'd heard me bitching about a play they'd cast'.
You see how mad actors are? Brook again:
'In England, it seems suddenly that we have a marvellous new breed of young actors- we feel we are witnessing two lines of men in a factory facing opposite directions: one line shuffles out grey, tired; the other strides forward fresh and vital. We get the impression that one line is better than the other, that the lively line is made of better stock. This is partly ture, but in the end the new shift will be as tired and grey as the old; it is an inevitable result of certain conditions that have not yet changed. the tragedy is that the professional status of actors over the age of thirty is seldom a true reflection of their talents. There are countloess actors who never have the chance to develop their inborn potential to its proper fruition.'
I am one of these old, sad tired actors over the age of 30 who knows that they're not one of the very gifted and a part of me wonders if it's all worth it at all. I mean, if I can't get clown, why even bother?
On the other hand that is very defeatest and I still have two days left so I'm going to go for a swim and buy a new clown costume.
posted by lecoqblogger at 8:22 am
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