A Practical Handbook for the Actor
by Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Melissa Bruder, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previtio, Scott Zigler
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Melissa Bruder, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previtio, Scott ZiglerIntroduction: David Mamet
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1986-04-12
ISBN: 0394744128
Number of pages: 94
Publisher: Vintage
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780394744124
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of A Practical Handbook for the Actor
Book Review: I had my doubts about the study of acting...
Summary: 5 Stars
...until a grad-student friend of mine required this textbook for a class he was teaching. I later learned he was going against the grain by doing so; university education in acting frequently concentrates on the emotional state of the actor, and this book punctures that paradigm like a shiny pin. A Practical Handbook for the Actor, written by pupils of acting workshops run by David Mamet and William H. Macy, puts forth the idea that the actor's emotional state is pretty much irrelevant, if it doesn't translate into actions that communicate something to the audience.
This book utterly demystifies the process of how an actor creates a powerful performance. It answers every "yes, but how?" question actors in training -- and interested fans -- should have about how acting really works.
There's nothing pedestrian or insulting about pulling back the curtain and providing specific, detailed instruction. There's nothing limiting or proscriptive about this method -- because it gives the actor two kinds of tools. The Handbook provides a framework for delving into the intellectual side of script analysis, so that the actor can really understand what's going on, boil it down to essentials, and avoid all the traps of poorly-defined emotionalism.
From there, it is completely up to the actor to translate that understanding into specific, personally meaningful, play-able actions. Which are, after all, what a performance is made out of. It's not that imagination or emotion aren't important, it's just that they are the actor's tools just like her voice or posture, and deserve the same kind of forethought and attention.
There will therefore be as many different ways to play a scene as there are different actors. It's just that by paying attention to what's going on, both in the script and on the stage at this exact moment, the actor has a clearer and more direct way to do what they mean -- without having to go through the mental and emotional gymnastics required to try to mean what the script says they have to do. As the authors point out, a system that doesn't work when you're tired, when you have a cold, or when your mom is in the audience is a pretty lousy system. So why do we spend so much time trying to work ourselves up into a particular state?
There's a famous story about Dustin Hoffman and Sir Laurence Olivier, on the set of "Marathon Man" in the mid-1970s. It's one of those stories that isn't actually true, but is so instructive that it should be. They're about to film the scene where Hoffman's character confronts Olivier's, after an intense period of cat-and-mouse. Because his character hasn't slept all night, Hoffman stayed up all night, and jogged around the studio lot so he'd be appropriately sweaty and worn-down for the scene.
The story claims that as the director called "places," Olivier set down his newspaper, got up out of his chair, and was startled to see the dismal state of his co-star. "My dear boy," he said, shaking his head, "you really should try ACTING."
This book is very much more the kind of acting Sir Laurence was talking about, and not the kind that makes an actor exhausted and neurotic. I can't recommend it highly enough, both for those studying acting and those who are just fans of the process.
Summary of A Practical Handbook for the Actor
6 working actors describe their methods and philosophies of the theater. All have worked with playwright David Mamet at the Goodman Theater in Chicago.Theater Books
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