Vulnerability

One of the biggest problems facing the actor is producing a truthful response. Most actors can live truthfully on stage and screen when they have the right tools, but re-action, and not action is the true test.

A good actor must be able to reveal themselves to the audience and that takes courage. Vulnerability is not a comfortable place, all our old defenses kick in, we become cerebral, we raise our shields, we erect personal barriers to protect ourselves against danger.

But the actor must not fear this danger. They must accept a simple truth, actors do in public what others do in private and to do this requires that you allow yourself to be hurt in the moment, to be pushed to places you wouldn’t normally go.

Letting go and allowing yourself to be vulnerable, requires that you trust yourself, your director and the other actors.

Re-acting means learning to take another actor’s words and actions personally, without pretending they are the 12th Duke of Devonshire. React to what the other actor is actually doing and not the character and with vulnerability, you will react with truth in the moment.

Thursday, April 1st, 2010 General

1 Comment to Vulnerability

Legacy creators open themselves up to vulnerability | Creating Legacy
03/04/2010

[...] couple of days ago, my acting coach Mark Westbrook published a short blog post about the importance of vulnerability for actors. As Mark says, ‘actors do in public what [...]

 
You can contact Mark by emailing mark@actingcoachscotland.co.uk