#actingblog

This is the work. How do we get out of our own way? How do we know our instrument well enough to know how to begin to do this? This is what the actor must discover. Act, read, watch, study, discover the craft of acting in any way you can. Commit. To the work. It’s worth it.

I am happy to be offering private acting and singing performance classes for all levels of artists including technique for stage, film, on camera audition technique, audition process, audition prep, college audition prep, monologue work, scene study, script analysis, and sessions on working in the business. I coach in person and online. I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild AFTRA and Actors…

Recently an actor sent me this text:

Hey 👋🏼 I don’t mean to bother you if I am but I’ve been sort of arguing with myself about a question and I hope you could convince one side over the other.. do you think it would be worth it to apply for a drama school (like a university) and receive great training and go that route? Or just get what I can where I’m at right now.. save money and ultimately…

Week one back at drama school is over. 

I didn’t really have many findings this week. It’s just been a week of getting back in to the swing of things, getting back in touch with myself and my body and preparing myself to discover. I think my main focus this week has been trying to throw myself in to things more and not wait for others to go first. I’ve had some small successes doing this in the past week and a few moments of fear which is fine. 

This week we had to get up and sing one of our Shakespeare monologue’s in our natural accent and that was a tough one for me. I can sing when we’re having a bit of a joke or when i’ve had a few too many and there’s a karaoke machine hanging around but not in this circumstance. It took me a lot of courage to stand up and sing my monologue and although I didn’t get up first, I did get up second which i’m proud of myself for doing! It wasn’t too bad either you know. Sometimes you’ve just got to say ‘fuck it’ and go for it.

I’ve also had my eyes opened to actioning and uniting this week in workshops with the northern theatre company ‘Box of Tricks’. Hannah and Adam have been great with broadening our understanding of new writing and what it is and also how the begin with working on scripts. Hannah went through actioning with us which was a slightly different way to how I usually action scripts. I’m not usually fond of actioning as I feel so limited when I do it and all the work I do with actions usually changes when I eventually perform it so I always wonder what the point is. Hannah showed us that actioning as a cast is much better than doing it on your own as you can help each other out with what words to use and so you’re all on the same level when going into a scene. Actions on lines can be split into two categories, these being a push or a pull. A push action is something that is pushing somebody away such as ‘I flick you’ or ‘I deflate you’ and a pull action is something that pulls somebody in such as ‘I hook you’ or ‘I raise you’. I found this such an interesting way to break actions down and I will definitely be trying this out on future scripts. 

Finally, i’ve had the pleasure of staying with my two lovely friends this week due to the northern rail train strikes. This has been such a great opportunity to spend time with good people and have lie ins in the morning. I’m usually up at 6 to catch my train so this was a blessing to be able to get up at 8. They have been such good company and I cannot thank them enough for their kindness. 

I’m surprised that i’ve not yet broken any of my new years resolutions but at the same time, I’m so happy that I haven’t. I’m looking forward as to what week 2 will bring. I didn’t expect to have written this much when I started writing this entry so we’ll see how much I write next week!

Thank you to anybody who is reading for sticking on this journey with me. Things are looking up for me and this new year and new term is looking like a good one. Thank you again. Have a good week.

Stuart

Something that I’ve begun to appreciate more whilst training is other peoples processes as they develop as actors. 

As a young, Naive actor I used to think that I had the right to critique other actors no matter their age or skill level. I’m okay with admitting this because this was once a part of me when I was young and lacking knowledge. I wasn’t taught about this wonderful thing that is the process. Acting was just acting. Being at drama school has really helped to shift my mindset and understand that it’s not okay to ‘give notes’. I strive to give positive encouragement and pat my friends on the back when I think they’ve done something really well but that’s as far as it goes.

Now I see the beauty of the process for what it is. A constant learning curve full of failure and knowledge, and that applies for everybody’s process. Too many times do I hear people criticising other people’s acting skill or choices that they didn’t agree with and what I say to this is, that’s where they’re at in their process as an actor. Nobody has a right to comment on somebody’s process ever. Actors don’t give other actors notes after all. Our job is to support and encourage exploration and play within our combined processes. This is why drama school is such an amazing, individual, journey. 

I’ve got many friends that i’ve enjoyed watching grow and develop into incredible performers and that change and growth will continue throughout their careers as will it through mine. Change is wonderful and should be accepted no matter what.

Never note, always encourage and appreciate the process.

Stuart 

Kathryn Keats Studio – For Actors 

If you want to work as an Actor I am going to make sure you do. Im not here to coach you year after year, after year, “preparing” you to be an actor. I am here to collaborate with you, giving you the chops to BE ONE and to send you out to act or to get to the best university to study. You’ll come in to the studio for sessions to work on scripts and monologues because you’ll be a working actor. It…