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