A Practical Handbook for the Actor - Book Review
A Practical Handbook for the Actor
by: Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previto, and Scott Zigler, with an introduction by David Mamet
Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, New York, � 1986
My thoughts: Own it. Don’t wait. Go now.
We all know that not everyone believes in or adheres to the same approach to acting technique. Most of us realize that there is some kind of process to develop a character for performance however, not many of us agree on what that process is exactly. That’s because each of us is a completely different human being (gasp!) and has our own needs and methods of working. Failure to truly grasp this concept has been the problem with so many books on acting in the past. Everyone was trying to write a book that would explain what it is that an actor does and how great performances are derived.
No such book exists. Not even this one.
The writers of this book don’t try to make the claim that this is the only book you’ll ever need to learn the craft and the art of acting. However, they do provide a simple, concise look at a technique that has been developed and has worked for many people all over the world with some success.
The entire book weighs in at less than 100 pages (only slightly more than most play scripts) and can honestly boast that it has dug it’s way past all the years of crap and stigma that Acting has had heaped on it and gotten to its core. The techniques listed here are derived from the Stanislavki’s method, but his method has been modified, added to, and subtracted from in order to update it for a more modern (and, I might add, American) audience. To be quite honest, whether you are a newcomer to the world of theatre with stars in your eyes, but not much experience, or you are a hardened veteran of the stage, this book is worth keeping on your shelf and returning to time and again.
The book is broken up into two major sections: The Technique and Pitfalls (Working in the Real World).
The first section is not filled with exercises that are impossible to figure out (much less learn anything from) in book form. It simply goes through a technique of analyzing a script and preparing a performance. The writers’ major philosophy is that acting is doing; you can’t just be something. After they establish this, they simply and elegantly lay out a method for which you can decide what it is you want to do on stage. However, it doesn’t stop there.
After you have figured out what to do, the writers tell you to get the hell out of the way. You should always be ready to improvise within your given circumstances in the moment. They provide examples of this, but unless you are familiar with the plays they use as examples, you will feel a bit lost. As always, being as well-read in the world of theatrical literature is a must for any actor.
The second section deals (in very simple terms) with working and using these techniques in the real world. It is titled “Pitfalls” for a reason. It is very honest with its readers about the fact that this technique is great in the studio where you’ve got the freedom to fail and learn from those failures, but is more difficult to put into practice in the real world because of time contraints, budgets, overbearing (and often impatient) directors, and, of course, the egos of actors (yours and others’). When you are in rehearsal for a professional production, it is expected that you come to each rehearsal prepared; having done your homework. The technique outlined in the first section, they say, is your homework! You are expected to do your homework outside of rehearsal and bring that homework into rehearsal ready to put it to the test.
The other great thing about this book is that they place emphasis on the fact that simply reading this book and writing down some analysis on paper will not make you a great actor. You must get this stuff up on its feet and put it in…say it with me…action! They stress that the best way to do this is to continually seek out acting classes; merely reading about acting can not and will not make a novice a better actor or an experienced actor any better.
If you don’t already own a copy of this book, go ahead and pick it up from amazon! It’s a quick, easy read and it really quite insipiring.