Many Congratulations, Alice! You fill us with pride and joy every day. Love You...
"Personality is the most important thing to an Actress's success."
Mae West.
In the midst of the struggles we are all facing at the moment with the COVID-19 pandemic, my Wife and I were overjoyed today to learn that our six year-old Granddaughter, Alice, has just received the results of her first Performing Arts exam at LAMDA, and has passed with Distinction!
Many Congratulations, Alice! You fill us with pride and joy every day. Love You... "Personality is the most important thing to an Actress's success." Mae West.
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As with any profession, people always have different opinions on how best to do the job, and around these opinions, schools of thought develop. Then there are the endless debates about which is the best approach, and the claims that you can only hope to be successful if you subscribe to a particular school of thought and pay copious amounts of money to study with their teachers.
Thinking about this, I was reminded of a question I once saw asked on an online discussion page... 'Is there a word for Actors who are most comfortable playing the characters closest to themselves? Thanks.' Yes there is. They are called 'Personality Actors'. In simple English, they are Actors and Actresses who can play many different roles by effectively playing themselves. This is not the same as being 'typecast', which involves those responsible for casting, employing the same person for similar roles. Some of the most wonderful and entertaining work in history has been made with the skills of Personality Actors, and there are many such Actors and Actresses around today. Errol Flynn, (pictured here), made fifty-six movies, and effectively played one character! But his films were hugely popular in the Golden Age of Hollywood, and are as entertaining over sixty years after his death as they were back in the day. In the final analysis I do not believe there is a 'right way' to act. Since I came to acting the single most important thing I have learned was taught to me by my Friend and acting Tutor, Colin David Reese. He said: "Our job as Actors is to give the Editor something he can work with." Personally I would never question what works for another Actor, because it doesn't matter whether you use Meisner/Method/System or Personality, ultimately it comes from you, and if you have given the crew something they can use in post production to tell their story, then you have done your job... Image from the Movie: They Died With Their Boots On, (1941). Director: Raoul Walsh. Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures. This is a lovely rendition of Angelo's monologue from Measure for Measure: Act 2, Scene 2; delivered by my old Friend, Tutor and Great Shakespearean: Colin David Reese...
Very Good 'Beyond Repetition' session with Nicole Gaskell at the Actors' Temple today. I love the Meisner Technique in acting, it is so visceral and alive; and every time I practice it I am astonished at how many barriers we have constructed in our everyday lives to prevent our being truly connected to ourselves, and each other.
Always a pleasure to meet the folks at AT... I recently posted about how my adventure into the world of dramatic art has led me into contact with many Italians, and how Italy has a great tradition of film making which is sometimes overlooked in the English speaking world with its focus on British and American cinema. My Wife and I are presently in Rome, which was the birthplace of Italian cinema, and it is easy to see why. One of the most photogenic, evocative and romantic places on Earth, Rome and her story have provided the backdrop for some truly memorable motion pictures. As an Actor, Film Maker and Fan of the Movies all my life, I could imagine Rome as a setting for every genre from ancient history, to love story to science fiction.
In this picture you are facing South East from the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, the Colosseum appears beside buildings of modern Rome, and gives a clue as to the fascinating conundrum which is the essence of this captivating and beautiful city. She is called the 'Eternal City', and with good reason. Lively piazzas with designer label shops are surrounded by cobbled streets with myriad little outlets selling all kinds of curious things; and mercifully there are no giant, soulless supermarkets. People rush about their daily, frantic lives as they do in any great city, and the drivers and moped riders are, well... interesting! At the Trevi Fountain there is a wonderful feeling of young love, while at the Spanish Steps, horse-drawn carriages stand in the square where Roman life converges; and all this happens in the same frame as the ancient history of a mighty empire, and the foundations of Christianity some two thousand years ago. Yet that story and its people today are all linked, almost as if the ghosts of her past walk among Rome's citizens today, creating something which for this English visitor, feels truly eternal... #ancientarchitecture #ancientruins #architecture #art #colosseum #eternalcity #history #love #lovers #monumentoavittorioemanueleii #roma #romanarchitecture #rome #romantic #romantictrip #alwayschasingmagic It's arrived!
I could have got it for fifty-seven quid on Amazon. Instead I went to eBay and got it 'as new' for eleven pounds thirty pence! The expression: "shop around" springs to mind! "Made it Ma! Top of the World!" #actor #actorslife #classicmovies #film #gangstermovies #greatactors #greatmovies #jamescagney #goldenageofhollywood #loveoldmovies #matureactor #oldmovies #onlineshopping #proactor #shopping #theydontmakethemlikethatanymore I am pictured here with our Granddaughter, Alice, shortly after she came off stage from her first ever show! She was, (of course!), fabulous; as were her fellow performers.
Watching children perform on stage it is never long before you notice the 'naturals' whom others look to for their lead. And whenever I watch shows like this I am always mindful that not only do they allow the naturally talented ones to excel but, and perhaps even more poignantly, they create a space where the less confident child can come 'out of their shell' and start to believe that they too can be all they aspire to. I am also reminded of the debt we owe to all those little performing arts troupes up and down the country, where dedicated teachers are giving their time, often for free, to nurture the talents of the future in ways which will enrich them in whatever life path they ultimately follow. The youngest performer on stage today was three years old, and every performer deserved the applause they received from a packed house in Bishop's Stortford... @boheme_belle #actorslife #children #family #familyphotography #familypictures #generations #grandchildren #granddaughter #granddaughterlove #love #lovemusic #music #performingarts #showstoppers #stage #stagecraft #alwayschasingmagic #stingperformingarts Today I shall be attending a training session at a studio I first studied at some six years ago, the Actors Temple in London. My first experience of this venue was a nine-day 'Intensive' introduction to the Meisner Technique. 'Intensive' hardly does it justice. It was by far the most challenging course I have undertaken since I came into the world of acting; a kind of SAS Special Forces training for would be Thespians! I remember sobbing my heart out in a exercise on the final day, and yet felt I had released a part of my soul that had hitherto lain dormant all my life.
The course was lead by Simon Furness-Gibbon, whose style was sometimes confrontational, but always very challenging and thought-provoking; and it was something that Simon said that has remained with me ever since. During an exercise I was taking part in, I commented to him about my family, saying: "out there, in real life...", Simon immediately said: "This is real life in here, Clark"... Of course, he was right. And his words lie at the very foundation of Sanford Meisner's wonderful technique. Actors do not pretend. They behave truthfully under imaginary circumstances. I am looking forward to some 'Real Life' later today...
This is the official trailer to a film I worked on last year with Lines Pictures. It was an absolute joy to work with such a professional team under the inspirational direction of Pietro Pinto. My best wishes to everyone involved, and my hopes for the future success of the 'The Suicide' on the festival run...
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