Title: Year of the King: An Actor’s Diary and Sketchbook, 20th Anniversary Edition

Author: Antony Sher

ISBN: 978-0-87910-335-3

Publisher: Limelight Editions

My Advice: Own It

I first became acquainted with Sher’s work during my time in grad school. I was working on Richard III for scene work in class and the book was recommended to me by my professor. In addition to his own insights into the preparation for this role, the thing that struck me most about this book is that it’s the best book I have ever read on the actor’s process. Sher found out he was cast in this role one year before opening night. He spent that entire year in his own type of preparation for the role. Thankfully, for us, he journalized the entire experience - complete with his own sketches of images that helped him shape the role.

In this edition, Sher takes a step back in time (along with a little help from his dresser at the RSC) to reminisc about his experiences with this role some 20 years ago.

If Sher were to try this same thing today, I don’t know if it would have the same effect. It might have been done in blog/online journal form and while I believe in the power of this technology, I don’t think it has the same heart. When you read this book and see his sketches and drawings, there is a sense of the gritty raw reality that comes from from the live theatre. It’s almost like you can see the drops of sweat from his brow on every page of this book. You just can’t get that same thing from a website.

From the day he found out he was cast in the role, Sher noted everything in his journal. Even the smallest details of his personal life seemed to find a way into this journal and ultimately into his performance. Every interaction with another human being, every bit of current events, every geographical landmark seemed to find its way into this journal. His sketches of what Gloucester should look like, both inside and out, are quite simply breathtaking. And, remarkably, Sher’s own insecurities as an actor take center stage. He is very candid with his readers about how he was constantly nagged by the feeling that he simply wasn’t up to preparing this role, let alone playing the role. Even as the opening night approached, his feelings of inadequacies seemed to almost bury him deeper and deeper. In fact, in his own words, during his opening night performance, he is still worried about his process:

The second half is much better. The audience appears to have decided it’s not at all bad. They’re more relaxed and confident and therefore so am I. Who’s in charge here?

My voice lasts well and, thank God, I’ve got some big guns left for the oration. But no breakthrough on the nightmare speech.

Every actor I know has had some experience similar to this. As I constantly say to my acting students, live theatre is the only artform where you get immediate and raw feedback from your patrons. For good or for ill, you are in each other’s hands. If you don’t like them, they won’t like you, but thankfully, the reverse is also true.

Sher proves something else for actors in his book. I have no idea whether this was intended or not, but the theme of this book seems to be: Only through opening yourself up and laying all of your gorey messy insides out for all to see can you truly succeed as an artist. There is no other book that I know of that puts for this idea so clearly without beating you over the head with it.

I would have loved to have seen this performance. I feel like I have lived through the process!

Thank you, Mr. Sher.

We are pleased to announce that we will soon be featuring an interview with José Angel Santana, Ph.D on the podcast!  (Seen at right with Kevin Spacey  in Trevor Griffiths (Reds) at the Williamstown Theater Festival, 1984.)

Why, you ask? Well, it just so happnes that a younger Dr. Santana was one of the featured students on the Sanford Meisner Master Class DVD. We will be talking with him about that very experience and the projects he’s been working on in the interim.

What? You haven’t seen the DVD? Why don’t you buy it from Amazon?

Anyway, be on the lookout for it of at the Dumb Show. In the meantime, check out Dr. Santana’s website and tell him you got there from here!

Speaking of the Sanford Meisner DVD, you also need to be listening to the podcast for your chance to win a copy of the DVD thanks to Open Road Films! Information on that will be coming soon!

Title:  So You Want to Be in Show Business

Author:  Steve Stevens Sr. with John D. Cady

ISBN:  1-58182-453-X

My Advice:  You’ve got to check this one out…

“I’ve always wanted to be an actor.”

How many times have we heard that in our lives?  Of course, where I’m from, that sentence is usually followed by looks of consternation and dismay from whoever happened to hear it.  And after that, it’s usually followed by advice for that person to stay in school and get good grades and to become a[n]  [doctor/lawyer/nurse/auto mechanic/salesman].

This book makes the case that it doesn’t always have to be this way!  Mr. Stevens has put together a book that is filled with the simple tasks and information that anyone can do to have a successful career in the entertainment business.  Everything from getting an agent, auditioning, meeting with casting directors, getting headshots, and getting into and working with the unions.

His advice is well founded.  Mr. Stevens has had a long career in The Business since he was thirteen.  He’s been an actor, producer, casting director, and finally, an agent.  He’s worked with pretty much every Hollywood “name” that you can think of and has “discovered” and represented a great deal of them along the way.

I must admit, I was skeptical about this book when I looked at the title.  There are so many of these books on the shelf of your local bookstore that it seems that everyone has the knowledge of how to make it in this business.  There’s only one little problem:  If they know how to do it, why aren’t they out there doing it, right?  Why do they need to write a book talking about it rather than actually doing it? 

Mr. Stevens is the exception.  He has done it!  He provides information from pretty much every angle you can imagine.  And he transitions from giving advice as an actor seemlessly into giving you advice as an agent.  In fact, some of his best advice is on how to work with your agent once you get one.  His advice is most worthy because he has experienced both sides of this relationship.

If you are just getting into the business and really want to know what type of work you will really be doing, you should pick this book up. 

This week we interview KCACTF Region 4 chair Jeff Gibson.

This week’s episode features Dad’s garage and MTSU’s Freshperson’s Showcase!

I’ve signed us up for a service called Feedburner which will make it easier for everyone who wants to subscribe to our site and podcast to do so. So you’ll notice in the left-hand menu bar, three new links which will give you the option to subscribe to the various feeds (the blog, the podcast and the photo gallery) for this site with a lot more ease.

Still, there are some bugs to be worked out.

For example, if you are using Firefox 2, you’ll find it rather difficult to subscribe to the podcast right now. I’m working on the issue and should have it resolved soon. In the meantime, if you are trying to add the podcast to iTunes, make sure you use the stand-alone iTunes button.

UPDATE: I got this problem solved, but it took a bit of doing. I’m hoping that this is something that Firefox will have as an option in future releases, in the meantime, you have to poke around under the hood to make it work on your end. If you are brave, you can check this out. If not, I suggest that you open our site in Internet Explorer to subscribe to our site via iTunes.

If you are already a subscriber, this will not change things at all, just keep on doing that Voodoo that you do so well. To our newer readers, welcome and I hope this makes your life a little easier with trying to keep up with everything that’s going on around here.

If you are subscribed to our site via e-mail updates rather than RSS, make sure you click on the new link on the left to re-subscribe! The old e-mail subscriptions will be taken down in a couple of weeks so make sure you make that switch!!

In other news, I’ve reinstated the Green Room. I’m not putting a link up on the menu yet, but it will get there eventually. The old forum was overrun with spam stuff, so I took it down. It is our hope that this forum will be a hub for actors to network with each other from all over the country. It is also my hope that as more and more theatre companies become aware of the podcast and the website, they will seek to use the forums to post information about upcoming shows and especially auditions! So go on over to the Green Room and create a login for yourself!

In other news, I’ve decided to create a Wiki specifically for theatre stuff designed by theatre people for theatre people. Wikipedia is good, but the information is just too generic. It’s still very early in the process so I’ll post the link to it when it’s a little more fleshed-out.

I think that’s all for now. As always, the Inexplicable Dumb Show will continue to be up every Monday, so keep listening!

This week we revisit the TN Governor’s School of the Arts auditions!

This week’s show features a Deep Fried Theatre from Mississippi, our plans for SETC and Tee as a model!

This week’s show introduces our new segement, The Carlin Effect, our discussion on Governor’s School and the outcome of our Green Room Project Poll!

Start the NewYear off right! Join us as we take another listen to some of our goofs from episodes 10 SE-19!  ENJOY!