The Acting Blog

Skill and talent and the balls to arrive at your own conclusions…

Most of the good things about theatre that I learned, I learned from David Mamet.  Most of the bad things I learned for myself through my own mistakes.  I fell into every trap, self-laid and other.  Becoming good at something requires the conviction that you will not give up until you’ve done a thing.  If you don’t have that conviction, sooner or later, you get soft, you look for something secure and safe, and soon.. oh soon, you’re no longer doing the thing any more.

If you’re a working actor, you know the feeling, you occasionally get the desire for something more secure.  You feel a little shame that you can’t always put bread on the table.  But you know that you can’t do anything else half as well as acting and you couldn’t give it up if you tried.  Because some of us are simple designer and engineered to be humanity’s storytellers, to express things for the community, you find us in all cultures throughout time, we are a necessary evil.  We are neglected, we are poorly paid, we are occasionally funded and we are visciously protective of any position that we attain.

If you desire to be a working actor, you have all of this to look forward to in the future.  But you can do it.  The trouble is that safety and security will beckon you at every stage on your journey.  Shouldn’t you just give up? Go on, give up and.. go teach high school or something, it’s certainly easier.  It’s more difficult to stand in, take the pain, put up with the rejection and face the wind and keep going, keep going until you get where you want to be.  Too many falter at this stage, when they reach what Seth Godin calls the ‘Dip’.  That time when your resolve weakens and the other thing looks easier than the doing the difficult thing.

If you are training as an actor, taking classes, or you’re thinking of becoming an actor, be sure that this is going to be a rough crossing.  At no stage will it be glamorous, even when it’s glamorous.  At every stage, it’s going to be difficult, but it’s also going to be wonderful.  But at the moment when you leave school, when you’re out there on your own, when you have educated your body and mind, it just requires the will, the guts or as the taekwondoists call it, indomitable spirit.

As David Mamet says in American Buffalo, you need “Skill and talent and the balls to arrive at your own conclusions”.

To You, The Best!

Looking for Acting Classes in Glasgow? Mark Westbrook is a Professional Acting Coach and runs Acting Coach Scotland, a private acting studio offering acting classes in Glasgow, masterclasses, workshops and audition coaching for actors at all levels. His acting studio is based in Glasgow, Scotland, although he teaches all across the United Kingdom. All Blog Posts © Mark Westbrook 2010

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