Finding Your Own Way

Who broke the world of acting?

Who really changed the game?

Advanced the craft by leaps and bounds within a lifetime?

Who did something no one else was even dreaming of?

Who’s shoulders are we standing on?

And why would the hell would I care?

Mmm

(For the love of god, this is not a boring history lesson - Just trust me with this one)

I grew up loving artists like Philip Seymour Hoffman & Daniel Day-Lewis

Those actor’s grew up watching Streep, De Niro, Pacino & Cazale

They in turn were inspired by the magic of Brando, Monroe & Dean (the first man to actually cry on screen)

And those incredible artists were trained durig the great shift in American acting

Stella Adler and Lee Strasburg were beginning their ground breaking teaching careers (as well as their famous rivalry) in NYC

And of course, Adler & Strasberg (and many other great teachers) were influenced by the godfather

Russian director, Konstantin Stanislavsky.

In drama schools across the world

Stanislavsky’s “system” is still used as the basic building block of acting today

(For now, I won’t get into Stanislavsky’s drastic & crucial reversal of his opinions on acting in his later years which everyone seems to conveniently forget about)

So

There we have it

We have a bunch of teachers who changed the game.

But…

Who were they influenced by?

In 1873

During a time of bombastic shmacting

Where physical poses and facial gestures were the extent of the craft

A fourteen year old Italian girl said “hold my beer”

Eleonora Duse

Began doing something no one had ever considered

She dug beneath the lines of her character to portray what she called “the invisible side of life” (ref. Sheehy).

She gave herself permission to feel things on stage

She even famously blushed

Like, actually blushed in a scene - which audiences went freaking bananas at - as this was unheard of.

Now, to do something different during this day and age

Of course

Brought its challenges

And to quote the film Moneyball

“The first person through the wall always gets bloody”

And damn sure Duse got her fair share of trolls

An actor-manager, infuriated by her refusal to take line readings, shouted

“What makes you think you’re an artist?”

On top of this

She never wore makeup and failed to strike the expected poses

One reviewer simply wrote

“She doesn’t look beautiful, but she does look real”

Anyway

You get the point

This actress changed the game

Strasberg even went so far as telling his students at the prestigious NYC Actors Studio

“The theatre will require the next hundred years to deal with what Duse represented,”

And Stanislavsky’s famous “system” was, in fact, inspired by Duse’s artistry.

Now…

Why does this all matter?

When I had just finished drama school

I was desperately wanting someone to tell me what to do

To tell me how to act

How to dress

How to behave

Just tell me what to do so I could have the career I dreamed of

Then

Someone handed me a book called “Duse’s Blush”

And one single quote from that book smacked me across the face

“There can be no generalisations as far as the art of acting is concerned.

There can be no overall “method”.

Above all, no short cuts.

Each actor must find his own way for himself.”

Hold up

The godmother of modern day acting

The giant whose shoulders we all stand on

Is telling me I have to find my own way for myself!?

This was the moment I realised

Nobody was coming to save me

No-one was going to tell me exactly what to do

I had to go the long way

The slow way

The honest way

I had to start on my own path

I had to build my own way

In a way which works for me

It’s why I started going back to class

It’s why I started reaching out to great coaches for guidance

Great coaches who didn’t tell me what to do, but instead, helped me figure it out for myself

And it’s why I started The Actor’s Blueprint

To help actor’s build it their own unique way

Why the word “blueprint”?

I believe each individual artist has an inherent guidance system

A set of unique values, boundaries and curiosities

Which, when listened to and led by

Allows for the building of a craft and career which works for them, and only them

A blueprint for their unique way of contributing great work to this great craft

So

Thank you

To Eleonora Duse

The woman who broke acting

For encouraging us to go our own way

And to go first

Hope this helps

x

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