Blog
If I were Prime Minister…
There is no getting away from it. The election is but a hop, skip and a jump away. I don’t know about you, but if I hear one more pleading/whining politician I think I may explode. But it has got me thinking. Thinking about what I would do if I were Prime Minister. So,…
Read MoreAl Pacino – The superintendent turned Hollywood movie actor
Did you know that Al Pacino was a superintendent before he became an actor? This is what he said about it: “I was making 14 dollars a week. Every time, I’d get it and spend it in three and a half minutes. I would have a couple of quarts of ale and nothing else mattered.…
Read MoreAl Pacino – The superintendent turned Hollywood movie actor.
Did you know that Al Pacino was a superintendent before he became an actor? This is what he said about it: “I was making 14 dollars a week. Every time, I’d get it and spend it in three and a half minutes. I would have a couple of quarts of ale and nothing else mattered.…
Read MoreCommon Myths About Method Acting Busted At The BFI
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master of the Method
Today marks the first anniversary of the tragic and premature death from a drug overdose of master of the Method, Philip Seymour Hoffman. If it is true, as Richard Brody writes in The New Yorker, that: “Work that’s only good is limited to its technique; when it’s great, a work is virtually inseparable…
Read MoreHow To Live Truthfully in Imaginary Circumstances
“Living truthfully under imaginary circumstances” Sanford Meisner Sanford Meisner’s definition of acting is a beautiful and profound one, and captures the essence of what we are trying to achieve as method actors. To bring truth and authenticity to an imaginary performance is the holy grail for every actor. The ultimate question, which sets us…
Read MoreBattle of the Brits: Our Picks For Awards Season 2015
Happy New Year! We hope that you all had a festive and relaxing Christmas, and are raring to go for 2015! The arrival of January can mean only one thing for the cream of the acting crop – awards season! With the Golden Globes just around the corner (11th January) and the Screen Actors…
Read MoreThe Unconscious – Saturation & Character
“At times I thought he was me” Eddie Redmayne When talking about his portrayal of renowned scientist Stephen Hawking in the upcoming Oscar contender The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne encapsulates the essence of a tried and tested method acting technique – saturation. While he had some documentary evidence and a short audience with Hawking…
Read MoreUsing Your Body and Voice
“Actors should…wear a costume, adjust the volume of their voice, achieve physical transformation into the character they portray, allocate their muscular energy efficiently, and model themselves into anything in gesture, voice or musical speech.” Yevgeny Vakhtangov Movement and, unlike our mime artist friend, voice, are important parts of an actor’s training. The body…
Read MoreFreeing Your Instrument
“It’s your own self-serving stuff that gets in the way. You get out of the way of yourself to be able to express what it really is. It’s all about getting back to being free of yourself.” Al Pacino Where a painter has a paintbrush, a violinist has a violin, you, as an…
Read More