Theatre and Acting/Introduction

Welcome to the Theatre!

The theatre is a great place. Sit and watch as high-calibre actors perform live in front of you, with no cuts, restarts or interruptions. If you're seated in the right position, you may be able to catch a glimpse at some of the more obvious backstage mechanics that operate the props, the backdrops and so forth.

Acting is a great skill. The ability to make people imagine that you are someone else is something only a few possess. In the film Alien Autopsy, the main characters were played by Anthony MacPartlan and Declan Donnoley. They are known in the UK as two very successful TV show presenters and best friends, so when I saw the film, I imagined I wouldn't think of them as the roles they were portraying, but just as 'Ant and Dec'. But I was wrong. They managed to pull off their characters superbly, and I didn't think of them as two TV presenters. And that's acting.

This book is aimed to help you learn some acting techniques, but be under no illusion that this will improve your acting significantly. Acting is a practical task. Reading about a practical activity doesn't make you a master at it. Go out, join a theatre group and act for real. Then you'll realise what acting is.