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5.0 out of 5 stars
Let Me Drift As Such, April 12, 2005
Having read Oida's The Invisible Actor, and being so impressed by his perspective and attitude, both towards acting/theatre and life, I anticipated An Actor Adrift highly.
Such anticipation was accurate, as Oida shares the mind that is of an artist and a priest, a spiritual man and a creative man.
Essentially this is an autobiography of his career, beginning with his involvement in Peter Brook's Centre International de Recherches Theatres (which became the Centre International de Creations Theatrales) in Paris, subsequent travels throughout Europe, Africa, the U.S., and the Middle East.
His own history and a Japanese figures particularly in his experience. Coming from an insolated society, which held it's traditions of theatre very stringently, to communities of distinct openness, and other artists and cultures proves astonishing, frightening, discomforting and essential to the path of Yoshi Oida.
Eventually he describes his experiences away from the CIRT/CICT, creating theatre and experiencing spiritual rites of passage on his nomadic quest, one which baffles and excites him continually.
From an actor's perspective, Oida is a master. Capable of deeply recognizing and communicating the necessities and possibilities of theatricality and surely of creating them.
He has a clear reverence for Peter Brook, who's directing prowess and leadership inspire and amaze Oida. He quotes freqently from him, including a remarkable bit from The Shifting Point, a book by Peter Brook: "We are trying to discover something, to discover it through what we make, for other people to take part in. In demands a long, long preperation of the instrument that we are. The question always is: are we good instruments? For that we have to know: what is the instrument for? The purpose is to be instruments that transmit truths which otherwise would remain out of sight."
Such directness and depth is a hallmark of Brook, why he is so reverved by Oida and others, and it is unified in Oida himself. From page 159: "...we must aim at transcending the level of shortlived pleasure and superficial skills. Only then can the actors and the audience walk together on a path to another existence."
This is acting as high artistry, cultivated through decades of specific training, experience and understanding. This is acting that I strive for, acting which recognizes the craft as one of ancient societies, priests, gurus, temples, transcendence, community, power, heart, and deep reverence.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A great book by an honest artist, January 12, 2005
I came to Yoshi Oida's AN ACTOR ADRIFT through an interest in Peter Brook. The small book really overwhelmed me with Yoshi's straight-forward insights into the nature of performance, acting techniques (he's big into integrating Eastern and Western methods), his Japanese cultural roots, and the noble strive of an honest, questioning theatre artist in contemporary society. The book picks up with his introduction to Brook in the late 1960s and his departure from Japan, and roughly follows Oida's adventures and explorations over the next fifteen or twenty years. There is little information about his work after around 1990. I highly recommend it if you have a genuine interest in performance.
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