Acting, to many people, is a frivolous activity; and those who practise it are invariably called ‘luvvies’, that is, under no circumstances could they be regarded as ‘serious’ people. Acting also comes under the heading of entertainment, so famous stars (especially film stars) are worshipped as celebrities and invariably stay fairly close to how audiences wish to see them. Television, too, has much to answer for; it confuses ‘acting’ and ‘entertaining’ and persuades us, therefore, that anyone can do it, given the opportunity. We flock to the theatre to see television stars ‘acting’. Thankfully, this isn’t the full picture, of course.
There are those of us who see acting in an entirely different light. We appreciate that the art of acting (and it is an art) and in effect, the art of the actor, is fundamental to how we see the world. Actors play characters and enact situations created by playwrights and others that often reflect the past and the present: in the way we live our lives, in the dilemmas that we encounter in our relationships, in the events that shape our very existence. And we do this in a variety of forms: through song and dance, through the words of a drama or a tragedy, or the comic situations of a farce or a melodrama. To do any of this well requires exceptional skill.
Those of us who act, know that we come from a long and distinguished line, going back to the enactments of ancient Greece. We know that once we are bitten by the ‘acting bug’ it is for life and nothing will stop us doing what we know we are born to do. If we are wise, we will listen to advice from those who know what they are talking about and try to distinguish between a true vocation and merely a knack for performing that could peter out at any time. Also, if we’re wise, we’ll go to a reputable training establishment and spend three years (too short a time for such an important task) learning how to manage and hone this talent into something that can be sustained in the hard, and sometimes, unforgiving world that is the entertainment industry.
In the end we are entertainers and we depend on the audience for our survival; but how much richer is the experience for both when we know where we come from and why we’re there.
