Going on a journey to a very dark place

Hadley Freeman in The Guardian has a laugh at the pretentious way that many actors talk about their "craft."

It's a good reminder that language ought to be kept simple and direct. (We're supposed to be truth-tellers, after all.)

Bobo has a friend who decided long ago that acting wasn't all that difficult: Given moderate intelligence and a reasonable amount of emotional accessibility, you can more or less impersonate anyone. We see it all the time in indie films and in community theater. To do it well is a rare gift -- but to be able to do it adequately, lots of us can get by. 

I myself have so many self-effacing mannerisms ("I'm sorry," lowered eyes, nervous movements, gotta-make-my-point-so-I'll-overact) that I'm a long way from having stage charisma -- so it's fascinating to watch actors who clearly gather up audiences in their arms and give them big emotional hugs. Can't-take-your-eyes-off-them watchability -- that's rare. Watching those actors "work" -- that's a journey worth taking. (And why is it that we overuse the verb "work"? Out of self-consciousness that it's really, after all, play -- and not actually that difficult?)

[image: netw.com]