Creating Character

I've already posted a couple of stories on the threads above but in a serious attempt to give my point of view. I started out as a seat of the pants sort of actor. very little internalisation but I drew conclusions about what sort of person the character I was playing was and watched others who I judged were similar to that and copied them. It was largely a physical characterisation although I had a certain adeptness with voice and accent. Along came my Uni training and as Frank Ford, one of my lecturers was very much a Stanislavski man I beame something of an early russian school performer. I did however realise after a while that Frank was a bit out of date and began reading. I discovered Michael Checkov and explored much further into the various techniques that lump together loosley as method acting. I know that is not correct as technically only Lee Strasburg is Method but they all have a similar base. In the UK I directed a few shows largely on the London Fringe and found that the method school was for me becoming a little distracting. Actors were taking characterisation to a level that left the script gasping in the dust way behind the character concepts of the actors and in some cases the directors. This coincided with my beginning to write serious plays. Faced with a productio of one of my plays where my intent as a playwright was completely destroyed by a director and cast who took characterisations way out to stage left I began to wonder whether or not I had done the same thing to other writers work. I began to explore a technique that comes back more to the script than the old method school training does. I have now discovered, courtesy of Craig Edwards, that David Mamet is moving in that direction as well and I will read his book with much interest. This is a sort of potted history rather than a story or tale of an experience but I hope it will spawn some remarks. NB I always had trouble making method work with Shakespeare even when I was still a fan. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au