"What is an actor?"

Have your ever wondered what it takes to act? What kind of training must an actor pursue? How does the actor go about creating the illusions of different characters? Many of us never stop to ponder about the craft of acting. We attend a stage performance or view a movie without giving any thought to the art behind the performance. In fact, some of us may even believe that you are born to be an actor. No matter how diligently you train, unless you have this innate acting ability, you will never succeed.

These and many more queries are addressed in a compact book entitled "On Acting: Interviews With Actors", edited by Mary Luckhurst and Chloe Veltman. The principal objective of the book is to unravel some of the mystique about the art of acting. In order to attain some intelligent understanding of acting, the reader is introduced to a survey of twenty British and American actors who respond to a series of questions. Unlike many of the celebrity interviews we are accustomed to, the conversations presented in the book avoid intruding on an actor's private life or the commercial aspects of their latest project. It is to be further noted and as indicated in the introduction, "the book focuses on actors whose roots lie in the theatre, though many also have a profile in film."

Although many of the actors interviewed may not be household names, nevertheless, reading these interviews definitely provides us with an excellent overview of various perspectives of the acting profession.

For example, when the question of how does an actor develop a relationship with the audience, we notice a variety of responses. Aysan Celik asserted: "the audience is the final element; the performers are the bridge between the story and the audience." He goes on to explain that whether the actors are performing something completely recognizable to them or something very abstract, "as long as we, the actors, are engaged, I think the audience will be too. Whatever we do, we must not alienate them."

Another topic that was frequently broached was the amount of preparation and research undertaken before a performance. According to Anna Deavere Smith "acting is creating a fiction to illuminate a truth-and I think it is- then my preparation calls for my being aware of all aspects of the creation of that fiction." Smith goes to explain that she must be "intimately involved in all aspects of gathering information, putting it into a show, knowing what the stage world of the show is (mise en scène) and ultimately delivering the show, each night, to an audience-some of whom may know the people I am portraying."

Overall, "On Acting: Interviews With Actors" is an illuminating read and will definitely provide much food for thought for actors as well as non-actors.

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookreview.com
Posted August 26, 2002