Simon Callow on changing acting styles over time

[Mike Gebert]

Very interesting piece, mostly about British theater but enough of those people did enough of this on film that the names will mostly be familiar (Olivier and Gielgud, if not Ben Whishaw):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/ma ... ow-theatre

[Ray Faiola]

Oy, a very complicated topic. First, we're talking stage acting. Not to be confused by the longest stretch with film acting. One limitation that stage actors are faced with and is seldom discussed is...their fellow actors! An actor can only be as strong as the weakest compatriot with whom he shares the stage.

Second, Cowell is discussing Shakespeare. Shakespeare was written in a time, of a time, in a language and of a language. There are myriad degrees to which you can approach the inherent stylized attributes of the material, but you can only go so far realistically before you lose the original concept of the author.

As far a Olivier being giggled at, it depends on whether or not he is playing a Jewish cantor. Absent that, Sir Larry could be just as real as anybody else on stage, and as economical.

The problem with today's young actors is that they are influenced almost exclusively by television or film actors and too often they are miked. So they have a limited range of example and are often not required to elevate their energy (we don't talk about "projecting") so that they can be heard acoustically at the back of the house.

Thanks for posting. A very interesting article.