Current location:	Hamburg, NY
Current mood:	tired
Current music:	King of the Hill, other room
Entry tags:	david garrick, edmund kean, henry irving, jed harris, joan plowright, laurence olivier, on acting, richard burbage, shakespeare

Once more into the breach...


On Acting
Laurence Olivier
Simon And Schuster, 1986


I never used to enjoy reading books on acting. My own style has been to try and be as organic as possible. Not exactly method, but not a ton of technique either. I figured that there wasn't too much I could glean from another actor's style. Then I actually began to study acting. That word, study, really makes a lot of difference. During high school you're just happy to go on and fuck around on stage. To be totally honest, I still look at it that way. But if you want people to pay you for it eventually, you have to take it a little seriously at times.

Laurence Olivier is widely considered to be a legend of the screen, stage and Shakespeare. In On Acting, a series of conversations on all three, Olivier's own perception of his legacy is persistent but not obnoxious. Early on, he discusses the four men he believes responsible for handing down Shakespearean acting to our time: Richard Burbage, David Garrick, Edmund Kean and Henry Irving. Olivier gushes over the contributions of each to the stage, offering anecdotes and accolades the entire time. He shows proper deference to the past, although one can feel that he considers himself the next in line for that legacy. Olivier was 79 when the book was published, and by then many wouldn't argue whether he belonged in that category. But it's to his credit that his desire to carry the torch doesn't read like peevish insistence.

What I found the most surprising about Olivier's ability to approach a specific role was his attention to makeup. He was a master of the fake nose and other similar facial machinery. Sometimes it's hard to grasp just what subtle yet concrete effect makeup has on defining a role. Olivier talks in detail about his manipulation of his own features, whether finding just the right shade of black for Othello or the molding the makeup of his Richard III after director Jed Harris. Olivier used the makeup to submerge himself into the character. This worked well with Jed Harris as Richard III; Olivier considered Harris "the most loathsome man I'd ever met."

Many are familiar with theatre directors and teachers who are only too happy to tear down. Students who experience too much of this should read this book. Olivier understands, with veritable sympathy, all the problems surrounding the theatre, be they stressful conditions, the search for personal ability, or what have you. The book's final chapter, "Letter to a Young Actress," is one of the best examples of criticism that is easily accessible as constructive. The fact that the letter was written to his at-the-time future wife, Joan Plowright, may have created some bias on Mr. Olivier's part. His decision to share it with the world in On Acting certainly makes it a love letter. Not to his wife; personal romance is discussed to an incredibly minute degree. But to the same people he dedicated the book: "To my children, the next generation of actors."

Fun Parallel: Olivier loves Shakespeare. Shakespeare wrote in five acts with multiple scenes. On Acting has five parts with multiple chapters. Coincidence?