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Is it an insult to be called a "ham"?

Tue, 28 Apr 2009, 06:05 pm
Pffft24 posts in thread
Am I over reacting? I've just completed a season of comedy/thriller "Tip Toe Through the Tombstones". I'm under no illusion that the play is anything but pure entertainment, the characters are one dimentional and were portrayed as such. We had full houses every night and lots of fantastic audience reaction and feedback. I've read 2 reviews by the same author. One was featured on this website (not sure if you can view it under reviews but it's called "ham_4_t"). The other mention of the play was in the Garrick Theatre newsletter. In both reviews he called the cast "hams". Some of his comments were very personal and 2 cast members were extremely insulted by them, however I'm not going into that. My beef (pun intended) lays with the fact that he called us "ham actors". Examples of his work are: "it had a cast of the hammiest actors every to grace the boards" "the overwhelming smell of pork in the air" "excessive ham acting on stage" "clearly put into perspective what it truly means to be a ham" Two online dictionary definitions for "ham actor" are: "An incompetent actor who over plays and is incapable of subtility. An over-actor" "An unskilled actor" Of course, he's entitled to his opinion and all reviews are subjective but why try to mask the fact that he hated the play and the acting by writing "I loved it". So, my question is.... is it an insult to be called a ham actor. I certainly feel insulted. Would you?

Responsible - My Hand is up

Tue, 28 Apr 2009, 08:11 pm

I will take full responsibility for the postings as they are mine. I honestly did not intend offense in the comments. I did in fact mean to highlight the fact that the show did not hold back in its presentation of stereotypical characters and scenarios. The script itself called for this and as such the show was a wonderful pantomimic romp! I did love it and after some discussions with certain cast members, felt I was quite ‘safe’ in stating this fact. Obviously I was mistaken. :-(

I will humbly accept any insults that you or other cast members wish to throw my way and restate that I did not mean to offend. I acknowledge that the technical definition may be one of a negative nature yet I am familiar with a more light-hearted and complimentary interpretation of the term. I myself have been referred to as an “aging ham” and while the comment was given as negative feedback (by a questionable source) I personally believe that “Ham-acting” need not be a negative thing. There are occasions that call for Ham Acting and I see a vast difference between a ham actor and an actor being hammy.

I loved the show, indeed I did. I spoke personally to all the cast expressing this opinion. The review was supposed to be a light-hearted review of a wonderful show. If it continues to cause offense, I shall ask for its removal from this site and make a retraction where appropriate.

Absit invidia (and DFT :nono:)

Jeff Watkins

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