Customer Reviews

Acting Without Agony: An Alternative to the Method (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had the good fortune to study with Don Richardson when I was living in California. What a treat to find this book recently while I was searching for theatre books on Amazon.com. Don's book is probably one of the top two books that I have ever read on Acting. It is clear, concise, and incredibly helpful for either the beginner or professional actor. I'm an actor, director, and am currently teaching a course on acting and I use Don's book at the top of my list of reference books. Thank you Don, for putting your ideas down on paper for us all

The best book I ever read about the art of acting. It's simple and direct. I require it in my classes. Wonderful for directors as well

Ultimately, yes, this is an interesing book. What makes it interesting is that it points out a lot of the flaws and pitfalls in 'Method' acting. That was something that I wrestled with for years. All the agony. I'd lost the joy in the process. That part makes this book interesting. However, these techniques, although they sound promising are a bit shallow and overly simplistic at times. I still think this is a worthwhile book. There are bits of it that are very good. I would just say to watch out for when it gets too gimmicky. Now, this is just my own experience, I want to be fair here, maybe others were able to make this work, but I tried his system for supposedly creating emotions and to me that is just a gimmicky way to work. I can't imagine how that could work for anyone. It sounds interesting but after trying it, the techniques given for emotions just fall flat (for me anyway).
The overall problem with this book is that it tries to create too many little 'tricks' at times. I don't think it quite works that way. My personal feeling is that you need to be thorough in your character choices, know the right questions to ask, and eventually trust your talent. BE. Be in the moment, with all the work you've done you then jump in and surrender to your talent. I don't think any little system can do that. I think it's a god given-surrendered kind of thing, not something you try to manipulate. That was at times the problem I had with this book.
Nevertheless, it does have some gems in it. Aside from the system for creating emotions, the rest of the book is very good. It points out the importance of a well chosen objective, he gives you good character questions and explains how to work on different styles. Also, he does find a nice way to simplify things. I did feel I learned some good things from this book.

In this compact, easy to read tome, the late Mr. Richardson (an experienced director besides teacher)attacks, debunks and demystifies the insipid acting cult known as "the method". Breaking down acting into simple (albeit far too simple-hence the 4 star rating)and applicable steps, Richardson approaches acting as a joyful and natural form of human expression.

While the book doesn't really provide as many usefull lessons (a few more would have earned the book a slightly higher rating)as attending a class would, it does communicate a clear philosophy that makes acting accessible to a wider variety of students.

Richardson attacks the psuedo-pyschiatric approaches made popular by too many 20th Century acting teachers and sticks to the very basics. A successful director himself (unlike the most of the pantheon of American Acting teachers- Adler, Meisner, Strassberg- Lewis being the exception)Richardson takes great pains to approach acting from both sides of the camera and stage. His teaching method is to make acting as painless as possible.

Too bad this is relatively hard to get ahold of. A valuable addition to any actor's library.

Don Richardson's book brings to fruition the idea that Actors need to learn to trust the text and respond to the text and not graft on personal memories that are irrelevant to the text. Don Richardson's teachings allow for realistic responses that come from the play and the story of the character. A must for any actor! Excellent Book!

Bravo!

I thumbed through this book many years ago and was intrigued but after taking a "Method" acting class just recently--I decided to revisit Richardson's book to the point of actually joining a class directed by one of his disciples, Brad Heller. I believe you cannot learn about acting just from reading a book though the book can serve as a guide, but by application which is why I'm joining this class. The points made in this book are very clear and concise though I do admit Richardson had his bias particularly in regards to other actors such as Brando, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, DeNiro and Pacino. He states that Brando failed miserably as Mark Antony in "Julius Caesar" and yet John Gielgud was so impressed by Marlon's first time out at Shakespeare that he invited him to join the Old Vic. Also Brando won the Best Foreign Actor Award by BAFTA and also Olivier himself praised Brando's performance. It seems that Richardson has a bias against American actors doing classical roles to the point that only stage trained British actors can do successfully. Also he is severely critical of Streep's performances in "Sophie's Choice" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman", calling them school-girlish. Outside of that one complaint, this book is still worthwhile as an antidote to "The Method".

I loved Don Richardson and I love this book. It is a practical, easy to understand alternative to the method. I learned how to quickly make acting choices and put them into my body. I have been using this method for the last 15 years and I have been lucky enough to work alot. My only regret is that this book does not capture his philosophical view of people and his vast archive of knowlege and crazy stories. Don was a well respected director and an amazing teacher. When you nailed a scene, Don would rise from his directors chair and give you "the handshake". There was no greater joy than getting one. Otherwise he would say in "Get your notebooks". Reading Acting Without Agony is like "getting out your notebook".

After translating this book into spanish,I have had a very close relationship with don richardson's text. I trust that this book will be as valuable to spanish speaking theater students as it has been to english speaking actors and actresses. I would like to publish the work, and would like to contact mr. richardson.