Is it an insult to be called a "ham"?
Tue, 28 Apr 2009, 06:05 pmPffft24 posts in thread
Is it an insult to be called a "ham"?
Tue, 28 Apr 2009, 06:05 pmAm 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?
ham in context
Thu, 30 Apr 2009, 09:07 pmPffft quotes two online definitions of ham actors.
"An incompotent actor who overacts ,is incapable of subtelty.an over actor."
"An Unskilled actor"
A perusal of the net and my oxford dictionary shows most of the definitions being along the lines of a sub standard actor who overacts.However traditional meaning and common usage
aren't always the same and a perusal of reviews on the net shows that the term is quite often used differently. Many reviews contain sentences like "He hammed it up to the max,much to the delight of the audience"and"Delightful hammy over the top performances.
In certain genre of film and theatre big is beautiful and expressions such as hamming it up ,going over the top,shamelessly overacting and chewing up the scenery are often used in a complimentary manner.In other genre they may be used as criticism
Film reviewers have used these terms in a positive way to describe many a hollywood actor I have twice seen Jack Nicholson refered to as Jack the Ham.
Often common usage and context rather than dictionary definition define whether or not an expression is derogitory.
Given the nature of "Tip toe Through the Tombstones" I don't think the term "Ham acting" should be construed as a criticism