Any work in Perth?

Is there any work in Perth for Teenagers? 14-16 years old? I love Perth but there is just nothing here for us. Are there really more oppertunities in sydney? is it worth considering moving there once we have finnished school? thx 4 any feed back.

yeah i know what ya mean
im 16 f perth and i have done any acting for a yr now i miss it so much
last thing i did was urbs urbis with melville theatre company and i didnt get into the school musical this yr cause during the last one i was sick and they couldnt "risk" that happeneing again

I wasn't even involved in the theatre when I was your age, so I can't really comment on the availability of work. However, I do know that Roleystone Theatre plans to do a show next year in the same vein as last year's Regard's To Broadway, which had a cast of about 45, ranging from 15-25 years of age.

Feel free to mail me if you want me to get you more info.

what work are you looking for?
there is work if your willing to search for it. I'm currently in rehearsals for 'Lord's and Ladies' and the about 5 teens in it.
Also the new company Make Believe Entertainment is a brilliant way to get into film and television, however you do have to do their courses to be sent to auditions. They have a number of T.V series and feature films coming up.

the word is that there are big things about to happen here ;)

if you want it...go get it
:)

if you want more info email me at lorraine_mackellar@hotmail.com

I've heard a rumour there are open auditions for The Lion King at WAAPA this coming Sunday. I think you have to have turned 16 though. You just need to bring along some sheet music between 9 and 11am.

Hi,
I will be 18 at the end of the month.....(12 days actually...not that i'm counting!!) and I used to think the same as you. There is no work in Perth!! But this year I took part in my first musical with playlovers...Jesus Christ Superstar. Yes I was one of the younger ones but not the youngest. There is things to do ( non-paid ) if you look hard enough. This weekend I will be singing with the WASO chorus and on Friday nights I also take part in a variety show held at the Tivoli theatre in Applecross. The show has acting, dancing and singing. Yes...it is amatuer but it is also satge work and a lot of fun. Join a few companies and clubs and you will find out info about auditions through their newsletters etc. It really is just a matter of putting yourself out there.
I was so nervous for my Superstar audition and actually considered not going......that would have been a huge mistake. NOw that I know ppl it is alot easier.
Also check for ads in the paper.
If you want to know anything else E-mail me and I will be glad to talk to you. I'm no expert but I was in your shoes once and I know there is a way to get out of them!!!
Keep Smiling
Suzie

Heya everybody!

Well Im 15 and I must say that I have been looking really hard at trying to find some auditions for people around my age. It isnt easy, but determined to find SOMETHING. Im doing a workshop soon that has a high success rate for people doing voice overs and commercials etc... and very excited. I know I need to know the basics first before I do anything.....but i cant help but having a sneek peek at anything that comes up for teenagers ( tehe ).

Well if you guys and dolls know anything for us kiddly winks ( pfft hardly ) give us hoot.

cuzzles10@hotmail.com

Hi to all struggling teens,

There are also a number of youth companies in Perth that cater for the under 25's. Pear Shaped Theatre (I think) is one of them. Have a look through the list of companies in the drop down menu at the top of the page...something might come out of that. But, as has been said before, it depends on whether you are looking for amature theatre or are hoping to get paid work. But remember it is all experience and you never know where it might take you - just audition for anything.

What I'd like to know is...why dont the groups that cater for the younger age group reply to these pleas for assistance??? Any ideas?

Good Luck

Tanya.

Thats a valid point you have made! about the companies not coming out and saying "HEY! here we are! we want you!" I had no idea there were spacific companies for under 25's before i read you reply! either they are few and far between or they know there is not much work so they try to stay hidden to keep the numbers down! thx for your point of view!

Hi Everyone,

I'm 22 this year and I've been acting since I was 15. I've tried breaking into the Theatre scene all through my teens and I've come to realise a few things...

Don't expect paid work until you're in your twenties...

AND...don't expect paid work when you ARE in your twenties.

The fact is, it IS hard work to get a paid gig for acting here in Perth and its even worse in the Eastern States. Theres no way about it. There is too much competition around for paid jobs.

Teenagers will only find work in locally made Children's TV serials and TV commercials. All other roles simply require actors with LIFE EXPERIENCE.

LIFE EXPERIENCE peoples - thats what all young people lack and you need it to act. That comes with time. NIDA/WAAPA/VCA or any drama school usually don't even accept anyone under 21.

Thats why young people will not find much professional work until in their twenties.

In the meantime, ACT, ACT, ACT and get as many shows as you can on your CV!

Get an agent. With most agents these days, you may need to audition for them to get in. Actor's Management, Actor's Plus and Frog are your main acting agencies here in Perth. You'll find that most of them will ask for your experience in local theatre. They want you to have done a few shows before they accept you.

Youth Theatre companies? Theres a few out there - specifically, check out Black Swan's youth branch called BSX Theatre - they've just auditioned for Antigone which is to be directed by Peter Kingston from WAAPA. WA Youth Theatre Company is just about to begin rehearsals for their The Museum Project which is to be written by Reg Cribb (of PTC's The Return fame). These two companies have great reputation, support and high quality of production. Get onto their mailing list and you'll be informed of future auditions. These two companies caters for 16-24yr olds.

Experience is so important for an Actor to develop their craft. If you really want to take Acting serious - study it at Uni. Curtin Uni offers the best practical theatre course in WA. Its the only tertiary course that puts on 20 shows a year in their Upstairs Theatre, as well as 4-5 full-length main productions in the Downstairs Theatre. I got an agent purely on the amount of shows I've down at Curtin Uni.

WAAPA/NIDA/VCA? Like i said before, its very rare for anyone under 21 to get in (and it HAS happened!) but still audition because its good experience and gives you an idea of what to expect in the professional world. Those auditions can be quite brutal at times and its a great way to assess how serious you about acting :)

But heres another suggestion guys - MAKE YOUR OWN WORK. If you're serious about Theatre...put on your own shows at the Blue Room or write/produce a show that you could market to schools. Last year, a group of us uni students found a play about drugs on the internet that we took on tour around schools for a 3 week period. We made a coupla hundred dollars each from it. Easy dosh and most rewarding for us.

Well - i've dribbled on long enough...

Hope that helps a few people. Email me if you wanna trade ideas or chat. What I love about Perth Local theatre is that everyone supports each other. The social side of Theatre is so important (networking/drinking copious amounts of beer) and thats how you hear about things coming up and stuff....so fucking get out there and start making theatre.

Acting isn't a job - its a lifestyle.


Cheers,
Crispy

> If you really want to take Acting serious - study it at Uni.

...and the very best advice I ever got? If you really want to take acting seriously, DON'T study it at uni. Find something else entirely to study, not necessarily at uni, and preferably something with a job at the end. This is fantastic on so many levels: you meet a whole new non-acting range of people (which not only gives you that all-important life experience, you get some great observational character studies which are your number one resource as a performing artist), you see what is important to other people and you are truly able to assess what YOUR priorities are without getting swept away by others' enthusiasm, AND you can plug your love of the theatre to a much wider audience who would never even think of going to the theatre otherwise. I have a number of uni friends who had never set foot inside a theatre before coming into contact with me who are now regular theatre goers.

Once you graduate your job options are enormously flexible. I make my own work time - fifteen hours a week max is all I need to support myself thanks to a professional salary - and I can fit it easily around voice overs, auditions, rehearsals. Furthermore, I can afford to take all the acting, movement and voice classes I want, and see as many shows as I can around town. Some I know who did study acting at uni, are now chained into shift work, at odd hours, on Friday nights (i.e. performance nights), all day Sundays (i.e. rehearsal days), that they can't get out of, and prevents them from taking part in excellent performance or networking opportunties. By studying acting at uni, they have effectively undermined their own careers by not being able to do anything else. This is an extreme example, but remember to keep your options as wide open as possible as you are rarely able to support yourself as an actor, and studying it at uni isn't the best way of doing that.

To get that all important performance experience while pursuing something else, as Crispy said WAYTCo and BSX are outstanding both for experience and networking - Simon Nichols from BSX has recently got a paid reading with Black Swan proper thanks to his work with the youth arm. Olivia Hogan from WAYTCo ended up in PTC's Vagina Monologues after her long experience working with Jenny Davis. Your own community theatre is also an outstanding resource - while at uni, I performed regularly with UDS, Grads, and Playlovers and strolled right into Actors Management's books upon graduation from uni.

I, too, started in this game at the age of 15 and I'm slightly less than a year older than Crispy. There is work out there - you must look for it, swallow your pride, network, see everything you can and try to talk to the cast and crew afterwards to see how they go about it. Go to parties, do courses where you can meet people, and NEVER pass up an opportunity to perform even if it means the difference between eating this week or losing your day job. Meeting people is your best resource.

[%sig%]

everyones going on bout paid jobs and i dont care if i get paid i just love performing

> Experience is so important for an Actor to develop their craft. If you really want to > take Acting serious - study it at Uni. Curtin Uni offers the best practical theatre > course in WA. Its the only tertiary course that puts on 20 shows a year in their > Upstairs Theatre, as well as 4-5 full-length main productions in the Downstairs > Theatre. I got an agent purely on the amount of shows I've down at Curtin Uni.

Hmmm... it's a petty point, but I'm a petty person, so I've gotta disagree with your assessment of which WA uni offers the best theatre course: To me, while Curtin may offer more in the way of extra-curricular theatre options for their theatre students (and much respect to them for it), in terms of the actual course it would seem that both Edith Cowan and Notre Dame are better options because they aren't weighed down to a communications degree and you can have more theatre content in your degree at both of those universities. Murdoch isn't that far behind either although both Murdoch and ECU seem to be a bit bogged down in English Lit academia.

Mind you, I currently doing an English Literature minor, so that kinda negates that a bit for me. Obviously you should take all opinions from uni students about the quality of their uni with a pinch of salt. Myself included, most uni students will relentlessly try to promote their degree in an attempt to get more people to recognise the good-ness of the course that they are doing so that their degree will be recognised by more people once they get out.

True.

Find a course that feels good to you. Or take my word for it: Notre Dame Uni offers the best practical theatre course in WA! :P

> ...and the very best advice I ever got? If you really want to take acting seriously, > DON'T study it at uni.

Not that I'm in any way an expert here and I mean no insult to actors who have developed their method purely through experience (some of my favourite Perth actors have developed that way), but it would seem to me that if your intention is to work consistently in theatre, wouldn't it be better to go and learn the acting craft (and other skills necessary to work in the industry) before jumping in the deep end? While university is not the only place one can go to learn these skills, it's definately one of the better places and at least you'll end up with a degree at the end of it. It depends if you definately want to pursue theatre full time no matter the lack of dosh or if you want to be able to consistently have enough money to eat.

If you've trained at a university level, you should have the necessary knowledge to produce your own theatre work. There are grants avaliable and if you market it well it is actually possible to make enough cash to eat. Financial success will probably not happen overnight, but if you work at creating and expanding your audience, you can eat.

In other words, I believe a theatre degree is not necessarily a pathway to instant theatrical success, which I think only comes with a combination of any of the following: working your ass off, luck, networking, extreme fear inspiring lust for success (even if it's hidden under a cool, collected surface), knowledge, talent, ideas, sexual favours to reviewers and/or casting agents, a successful long running pop music career or being picked up off the street by a passing TV exec in a shiny black limosuine (unlikely, but nonetheless a pleasant thought). And yes, even then work is perhaps sparse and you will suffer in crappy shift jobs. But at least having a degree in theatre will assist you in getting that work and for three years of your life you can justify sitting listening to The Doors or Syd Barrett for the fourth time this week while being far too drunk on red wine and trying to work other things our of your system with the simple excuse "I can because I'm a Performing Arts student".

It's OK. The Law students of the world expect that from you.

Anyway, I'm finished disagreeing with people and dribbling rubbish now.

Peace.

Tomás Ford

----
Come and see The Pirates Of Penzance at Rockingham. Go on. Check the "Whats On" bit for details. Come on. It'll be good. I'm in it. Come on. Goooo on. comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon. I'll be looking for you in the audience. Staring into it. I will. You should come. You'll like it. If you're into musicallystuff. Come on. Coome on.

[%sig%]

Hi Tomas!

Yes - I agree that you have a point about Uni Theatre courses. I was spewing that all out in a 10min spiel and it was just easier for me to generalise.

I must admit that I'm not familiar with Notre Dame's uni course so I can't comment on that. I must also confess that I come from the 'old school' where we didn't have a Communications & Cultural Studies degree. I did a theatre major in a B.A English degree. That meant I spent first year doing theatre units and a Literature/Cultural Studies unit which were prerequisite. In 2nd and 3rd year however, all units were part of my Major (Theatre) or Minor (Film&TV) streams.

The recent changes and divisions of schools now means, that in order to do Theatre (Performance Studies), one now has to do a Communications degree that has the shitty Literature/Cultural Studies units being integral in EVERY YEAR of the course. The Theatre component of the course now has been 'watered' down to make room for the Lit units.

I have no idea what practical units Notre Dame is offering so if someone can enlighten me - it would be much appreciated!

Hayman Theatre now offers units on Stage Management, Technical Theatre, Directing, Australian Theatre, Contemporary theatre, as well as the stock Stanislavsky, Brecht etc etc units. All units are practical as far as I know.

I wouldn't now consider the productions at Hayman as 'extra-curricular' anymore - a change in the structuring/assessment of Theatre units now mean our shows are integral in our assessments. 'Extra-curricular' to me means that the shows produced as a 'by-product' of the Theatre course. So if i misunderstood you Tomas - I apologise.

You are right in saying that studying theatre at uni does not lead you to instant theatrical success - far from it.

Also, having a theatre degree means @!#$ in the world. I endorse Hayman Theatre because I KNOW they offer the skills, practical experience and opportunities for you to pursue your theatrical goals. I don't even bother to put my degree on my CV because its EXPERIENCE and not a scroll that says I've graudated that will get me the job/role.

Acting is such a personal thing for people and its up to the individual how far they want to immerse themselves in it. I'm following David Mamet's school thought with 'fall back' jobs - if you have a 'fall back' - YOU WILL FALL BACK. Which is why I disagree with Amanda.

Financially, I want the support to be coming from the arts industry which is why I did theatre at uni. With Hayman Theatre, the course I did there, gave me the skills and confidence to produce, act and direct my own shows in the community. Hopefully a majority of my income will come from shows - only time will tell. Give me a few more years and then maybe I might go back to uni and get a real degree and a real job - but until then.....

thats MY little rant :)


Crispy :)

Hello again Crispian. :)

That's good if the performances are now used as an assessment tool. I didn't realise that - it'd give the course a bit of a more practical edge. I very much agree with you on the "if you have a fall back you will fall back" thing. That also happens to be my perspective on it.

Ummmm, Notre Dame has a three year "Bachelor Of Performing Arts (Theatre Artist)" course. You do a (bulky) practical unit each semester which features a stack of guest workshops with experienced practitioners and in second year an extra unit per semester of "Integrating Arts And Business", a pair of very useful business units. On top of this you do a PAM unit (a la ECU) per semester of Vocal Technique, Theory Of Acting/Directing, Stage Movement etc taught by WAAPA staff. The focus at Notre Dame is mostly on devised work but you can build up skills in other areas. Most students learn basic lighting, sound, stage managing and set design/construction skills through practical experience in performances (which are assessed).

It's quite cool. I think.

Only downside is that your choice of minor is restricted to Literature or Communications, but that's only one unit a semester and it doesn't suck too much. And the core units suck too - Ethics, Communications (how to write essays... a particularly painfully boring unit if you've already studied at uni before), Philosophy and Theology (a particularly painful unit if you ain't catholic). Oh yeah, and Notre Dame has too many Law and Business students who all dress the same and give the place a horrible reputation as a conservative imagination vacuum. :) And pretty much the most active political group on campus (save the quasi-Guild) is the Young Liberals. It's OK. You can blame the Law students for that.

By the way, I'm the guy from Notre Dame who you met at the circus fest last year and who bugged you in the Curtin tav a couple of months back after my band played a gig by the way. Just so you know... :)

Peace,

Tomás

[%sig%]

> I'm following David Mamet's school thought with 'fall back' jobs - if you have a 'fall
> back' - YOU WILL FALL BACK.

I've been out of uni for three years and never once 'fallen back'. Yes, I have worked as an occupational therapist, but as I mentioned in my original post, this has freed me up far more to audition for things and participate in voice overs which my ex-Hayman, ex ECU or 'I'm not going to uni cause I want to be an actor' highschool graduate colleagues have had to pass up because they couldn't get out of their dish-washing shift because they would i) get fired or ii) not eat for the next four weeks if they didn't get the job and missed their shift. I just took sick or annual leave, and not only got paid for missing work, but got paid for the job that they didn't get.

Also, in all my training as an actor, the number one tip I've been given is to observe people and learn motivations of people completely different from yourself. Tom and Crispy - if you were cast in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest' tomorrow, how would you have the first clue what someone on Lithium, or post electric shock treatment would be like? I know exactly - thanks to my fall back, I worked for 6 months on the locked wards in Graylands hospital. If you got cast in 'The Boys' in a week's time - how would you have any idea what that kind of poverty and abuse is like, hanging around with your upper-middle class acting buddies at uni? I worked in Rockingham with drug addicts and abused children for two years (I sincerely apologise and retract those comments if you have experienced these tragedies first hand - and I pray you haven't - I'm simply trying to illustrate a point). You may see it as 'falling back' - I see it as fodder, widening my emotional intelligence and character 'database'. By the way, in those two and a half years, I did numerous shows (paid and other wise), countless voiceovers, not to mention small-group coaching with Marcell Schmidz, Vivienne Garette, Julia Moody, dance classes, singing lessons with my WAAPA teacher, in addition to attending just about every show in Perth that I could make. Funded by - you guessed it - that 'fall back'.

> Give me a few more years and then maybe I might go back to uni and get a real degree
> and a real job

I don't have to, because I already have. I (probably) won't get bitter from the ongoing poverty and rejection because I feel I've taken care of that side of things. I can just spend the rest of my life pursuing what I really want to do - be an actor, and the best one that I can be. If I do change my mind, the alternative is already there and waiting for me, without another three years of self-inflicted poverty with people half my age.

> wouldn't it be better to go and learn the acting craft (and other skills necessary to
> work in the industry) before jumping in the deep end?

Absolutely - and learning your craft should be a lifelong thing for an actor. My comments refer to the fact that most people go to uni before they go for the drama institutions (WAAPA, NIDA, VCA, CPA). Most of the acting courses at these places are BAs in their own rights - why spend the three years before attending one of these getting another BA when you could spend the time broadening your horizons in far different areas which, in a BA majoring in theatre, you wouldn't otherwise get to explore?

I do love a good debate boys! Please don't take what I've written here as a 'Yah boo sucks. I'm better than all of you' - I don't want to get into an insulting mud slinging match, particularly with Crispian whom I respect and like immensely (don't know you Tomas - sorry). Nothing here has been intended as a personal jibe. I am, in truly poor debating style, using my personal experiences to illustrate this - that an alternative degree can free you up as an actor on so many levels, and, conversely, studying acting at uni, while fascinating and fun, can in fact undermine your potential and your career opportunities by the sheer poverty which it inflicts on you upon graduation.

See you on Sunday Crispy!

[%sig%]

All people are different, you should do what feels right for you at the time. If you want to get a degree in something else while doing drama/theatre outside of university - well why the hell not? No-one can say what is best for you, what is right or wrong.
Acting courses, I believe, give students a wonderful network and
support system. It inspires them and allows them to concentrate and immerse themselves in the craft, learning various styles and theories while creating a style of their own. For me - studying theatre resurrected my drive and determination. It's a relentless ongoing experience with the same team. So you are growing and learning together, continually doing one show after the other, hands on in all areas, helping each other out - gaining and building practical experience with an experienced practitioner to guide you. However, university studies are not the only way to increase your skills and graduating should never mean the end of learning. I am sure most people have heard the story, but I will repeat it for those
who havenÂ’t, of Geoffrey Rush returning to Sydney after winning an Academy Award to attend a class (as a student) at the Actors Centre in Sydney. May we all learn from him. Anyway I diverse.
"how would you have the first clue what someone on Lithium, or post electric shock treatment would be like? I know exactly - thanks to my fall back."
I think you have had a wonderful opportunity to have been able to observe certain things that other people have not. While you have observed the external I also know that you would put work into building the internal workings of your character and that can only come from you the actor. All of us have observed, experienced and interpreted things that others may not have. If an actor is given a role that they can not relate to immediately the they will create opportunities to research and observe. For example, if you were
playing a character who had a disease that had never touched your life, you would probably ring the appropriate foundation who would be helpful in finding sufferers whom you could talk to.
"how would you have any idea what that kind of poverty and abuse is like, hanging around with your upper-middle class acting buddies at uni?"
Again it's all about observation and life experience. What you haven't seen or experienced you ensure that you go out and try to - as you said - observe people and learn motivations of people completely different from yourself. The actors in the play “Caution”, that was on at the Blue Room, did exactly that - observing people and talking to ex-addicts at a clinic to be able to portray the reality of these peoples lives. And the - mostly ‘drama graduated uni students’ - did it very successfully.
I agree with you that having another interest is a great way to observe and diversify your life. Sometimes having another profession can inhibit your acting career. I think you are extremely lucky to have found a
part-time job that pays you sufficient money to get by and allows you time to persue acting. I know many people who have chosen to get professional degreeÂ’s and are unable to take time off work to do a season, just like there are many people with art/theatre degrees who canÂ’t take time off work to audition. Unfortunately I think this one of the most difficult hurdle in an actors life - you certainly need an
understanding boss...
“without another three years of self-inflicted poverty with people half my age.”
I really enjoyed my three years of self inflicted poverty with people two thirds my age and I wasnÂ’t suffering bitterness and rejection I just wanted to experience something in life I hadnÂ’t experienced and it
improved my life ten-fold. Truthfully it really doesnÂ’t matter in what order you do things in life - as long as you do what you want to do when you want to do it. If itÂ’s something you really want to do then youÂ’ll put up with the stuff like the lack of money.
“studying acting at uni, while fascinating and fun, can in fact undermine your potential and your career opportunities by the sheer poverty which it inflicts on you upon graduation.”
Studying acting at uni increases confidence, focus and skill. Being part of a class stimulates your imagination, helps to overcome your fears, helps you work with many different people and allows you to receive constructive criticism which helps you to improve. There are several graduates who are doing very well who have graduated from Curtin and Murdoch theatre courses and are now working professionally and able to earn a decent living. There are also several graduates who have banded together to create their own work thus actually creating career opportunities. Lack of money is an issue - but most “waiters/salespeople come actors” I know are able to get off work or swap shifts for an audition.
And wouldnÂ’t the sheer poverty inflicted on a student after graduation be a learning experience for their poverty stricken character roles? ; ) LetÂ’s not even get started on the classical singing v. musical theatre debate or IÂ’ll be forced to write an even longer missive!

G'day Tomas, Crispy, Amanda and Talei....just thought I'd join this conversation - one of the rare times where I've actually met all the contributers to the debate in person....


Thanks for the David Mamet quote about "fall backs"....I've been paraphrasing the same idea for years, and didn't realise there was such a succinct way of putting it.

I have two takes on the concept...one is that I really learnt to walk the tightrope of my acting career by doing away with any safety net. Sure, it's a bigger risk, and not everyone's up to it, but that was the single best way that I found to learn quickly and effectively how to make a career in theatre...I gave myself no other option. Consequently, for years I never had to do anything else.
The big advantage was that by never doing anything else, but putting absolute concentration and dedication to the one thing, I became pretty good at tightrope walking.


But the flip side of my coin (every coin has three sides....wait a minute, a 50 cent piece has ten...) is that I've now found that sometimes it's just as much fun to fall from the tightrope into a net. The nets I've put in place involve playing music, or working as an outdoor ed instructor (...or instead of a net, I jump from the tightrope into a pool, when I'm a scuba instructor!).

I started to see that the "fall" part of fallback jobs isn't necessarily the big bad evil it's made out to be...falling into something soft is fantastic. It's only landing in something hard that's a pain in the neck.

In fact, it's the word "job" that I object to, not "fallback". Starting with acting, I've now had several diverse occupations, none of which I ever considered "a job".
Nice work if you can get it, and you can get it, if you try.




I started the study thing; really enjoyed it, and found it valuable...but as it turned out I didn't need it. (I never graduated). After a year in the industry I found I had stuff I could teach actors who had graduated from WAAPA. (and they had stuff they could teach me)...it was a great leveller in my perspective of training/experience.

I think that having "a degree" translates roughly the same as having "three year's experience". It's a particular type of experience, probably more structured and specialised than you can find elsewhere, but essentially equivalent.

Perhaps, Crispy, a degree scroll means bugger-all in the world (I always thought that's what BA stood for), but sometimes your practical experience is no better guarantee of getting the job/role. Art is often rather intangible, and it usually comes down to being in the right place with the right skills at the right time, with little regard to experience, seniority, preparedness or fairness.

Studying a degree other than drama is an approach I've never heard argued so well. But it's no more or less valid than studying drama, or working in the industry, or another industry, or not at all. Nothing's set in concrete; the individual, innovative path has to be tailormade for each of us.


Amanda's observation/experience argument is a good, interesting, but I think inconclusive one. To have had first-hand experience of a situation is probably going to help you as an actor, so long as you have the skill to recreate that experience. But when it comes to acting something beyond human experience, like your own death, we're all just making it up.
A close second is to observe a situation, experiencing it second-hand. But I've been called upon to perform as an alien, and as a whale, for instance...neither of which I've been able to really observe, and I'm not sure it would've helped me much if I had. Again, I was better off just making it up.
A lot of us with any reasonable acting talent actually get by pretty well with THIRD-hand experience....we know a fair bit about how to portray someone poverty-stricken, or with a mental condition, or from another culture, because we've seen it on TV.

Almost all good drama is about the human condition. Unless you're a particularly literate quadruped reading this, you probably don't have to learn much to become human. So I reckon a good deal of the experience you need to act is already in you, the rest is just technical details.



Cheers,
Craig


PS - last chance to see Stories From Suburban Road in Perth tonight (Sat) 8pm!

The 'Fallback' theory...comes from Mamet's book called "True & False - Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor".

I'm probably infringing copyright here, but heres the chapter about the 'Fallback theory'. Grant- erase this posting if you're concerned about copyright :)

---------------------------

Titled - "I'm On The Corner"

The best advice one can give an aspiring artist is "Have something to fall back on." The merit of the intruction is this: those who adopt it spare themselves the rigor of the artistic life.

I was once at a marriage ceremony where the parties swore to "to try to be faithful, to try to be considerate..." That marriage was, of course, doomed. Any worthwhile goal is difficult to accomplish. To say of it "I'll try" is to excuse oneself in advcance. Those who respond to our requests with "I'll try" intend to deny us, and call on us to join in the hypocrisy - as if there were some merit in intending anything other than accomplishment.

Those with "something to fall back on" invariably fall back on it. They intended all along. That is why they provided themselves with it. But those with no alternative see the world differently. The old story has the mother say to the sea captain, "Take special care of my son, he cannot swim," to which the captain responds, "Well, then, he'd better stay in the boat."

The most charming of theories holds that someone other than Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's plays - that he was of too low a state, and of insufficient eudcation. But where in the wide history of the world do we find art created by the excessively wealthy, powerful, or educated?

It is not folly to ascribe the oeuvre to the unlettered, but it certainly is so to ascribe it to the nobility, whose entire lives were, to torture conceit, "something to fall back on." It is both comfortable and prudent to have a fall-back position; and those possessing the happy same cannot help but have their work colored by it - such work must be more rational, considered, and possessed of the communitarian virtues than that of an outsider. Such prudent work would tend to shun conflict...well, you get my drift.

The other side of the coin is pride. One could say, "I am a fool, for I have not provided myself with an alternative"; one could also say, "I see nothing else worth my time," which is, I think, a rather strengthening attitude.

The cops say, "I'm on the corner." Young folks in the theatre might have it, "Molly can go home and John can go home, I am NEVER going home." Bravo. And good luck.

Those of you with nothing to fall back on, you will find, ARE home.

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I like Mamet's approach to the "fallback theory" - but I wouldn't follow his words blindly. I think its a touch jumping of the deep end and quite one sided. Amanda is an excellent example of how Mamet has been proved wrong because she HAS a fall back but still maintains her artistic drive. These days, its hard to find an occupation that has very flexible hours. If anything, Mamet's approach demonstrates the passion that one needs to do acting.

It really is up to the individual to find that balance between work and acting and the best of luck to each and every aspiring actor in finding that :)


Crispy :)

Thanks for the Mamet article. I really like it.

I reckon it applies to a lot of things, not just theatre. If you're going to go skydiving, or any extreme sport, there's no in between - you either jump or you don't. A tandem jump is a learning experience, but it's not really a fallback...the alternative outcomes are the same.

If you're trying to climb a mountain, obviously you have safety and contingency plans...in fact you may well abort the attempt and be happy with how far you got, or perhaps try again some time later. It's hard to imagine what a fallback occupation might be...anything EXCEPT climbing the mountain, I guess. Again, you're either doing it or you're not.

Not that there's any shame or stigma to spreading your time over several things...it can be pleasant to walk partway up the mountain, and then ski down or go swimming or read a book or something. But I think Mamet's theory holds true that, if you want to climb mountains, you have to concentrate all your energy simply and solely on that.


Acting as a career is simply another extreme sport. You can dip your feet in and remain close to shore, or you can jump in the deep end and treadwater like hell. The deep water is where the best fish are, but not all of us are prepared to swim that far.

I too wouldn't suggest following Mamet's words blindly.
I'd suggest following his words with both eyes open.

It's the only way to stay on the path. Keep actively searching forward. Everytime you avert your eyes to the sidetrack occupations, you're bound to get a little lost or left behind.

Cheers,
Craig

Oh my god...

A spirited and intelligent debate on the ITA that didn't disintegrate into mud slinging and personal insults?!

YES! IT IS POSSIBLE! :-)))))

Maybe the site will self destruct if someone doesn't even up the score...um...Talei smells, Crispy's ugly, Craig's uglier and Tomas....well, he knows where he can stick it.

(Just protecting the site, compadres. Absolutely none of the above is genuine :-)

Thanks, guys - you've restored my faith in humanity, and I look forward to seeing all of you in the future!

[%sig%]

Hey trend-setters

Been following the argument. Should an actor have a degree, a fall-back job or just charge on in poverty concentrating on Acting? I think it is a bit silly to generalize; coz there's no right or wrong way to do it as history has shown.

However, let's get down to Brass Tacks; if anyone wants to make it as an actor I think they should own a damn good pair of Knee-Pads. (Know what I mean, Boys and Girls?)

See ya,
Simon

Simon Nichols wrote:
>
>...if anyone wants to
> make it as an actor I think they should own a damn good pair
> of Knee-Pads. (Know what I mean, Boys and Girls?)

No....what do you mean, Simon?

Alan!

Alan! wrote:

"No....what do you mean, Simon?"

Something along the lines of "bring your own Crisco", methinks...

And thus the tone of the post plummets!!

Eliot

In a manner of speaking- the concept is sacrifice- not literally to own kneepads but of having to sacrifice to get where you need to go.

I mean, how far do you have to go to get by? Or anything for that matter- you have to suck up to your day-job boss to get time off work to go to rehearsals or auditions, or to suck up to the family to borrow money to get by in-between work etc etc.

Sacrifice, boys and girls.