Customer Reviews

No Acting Please

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I'll admit that at first glance Eric Morris's System can seem scary and misaligned. But I believe it to be a very misunderstood system.

I too was skeptical in the beginning, but after studying this technique (with Eric, but mostly with Anthony Vincent Bova in NYC, Eric's protégé), and after seeing the difference from "acting" and what this Work creates, there's no way I'd ever go back to the "acting" form.

Eric Morris teaches the actor how to react honestly and in the moment, including everything that's going on inside and out-the other actor, the props, the imagined objects that one might be working for-that impels you to "do" whatever the character is required to "do", but out of a real reaction, not just because you're doing it.

I've studied Adler, Strasberg, Meisner, and with Robert Lewis. I've hashed through the process of verbs, actions, objectives, obstacles, and onward; and they're all good and dandy for figuring out what's going on in a script, what the characters are doing and why; but other than that, these techniques never helped me figure out HOW to make it real to ME... How to get to a place where I'm actually functioning from a real, organic, truthful state ... How to get to the point where I am "doing" all the script tells me to do, fulfilling the "actions," out of an honest REACTION to what's going on.... Not just "playing" as if I am; how, in essence, creating the realities of the character....

No matter where you go, all the great teachers (and actors) say the same thing, "Acting is reacting." Even the most used and cherished word in the actor's language, LISTENING, is about focusing outside of yourself and REACTING to what is there. This Work trains the actor to create the stimuli that will fulfill the demands of the piece, specifically, wholly, and with Truth.

For the most part, plays and movies are imagined circumstances, and we as actors, have to create stimuli to react from, so we're not just faking, or indicating our performance. I'd rather watch two people have a relationship on film or on stage, than two actors reciting words, no matter how well they "act" it. If they don't believe it, I won't. This System trains you to create those stimuli and REACT to them honestly, fully and truthfully.

A crucial part of Eric's System is based on Instrumental Work, which is the process of identifying blocks and fears and tensions to expression and, one-by-one, through the use of hundreds of exercises, eliminating them. It's really about self-awareness-learning about yourself and how you function, so you can "get out of your way" and function truthfully on stage or film and get to where you need to get to in a scene. I think this is the aim of every method, but I feel that this System is the only one to address the issues of the actor on a personal level. If I'm tense and depressed (in real life; me the actor), I'm not going to be able to REACT truthfully in a scene where the character has just won the lottery and is jumping with joy. If I push for the emotion, I'll be faking and will "act" that I'm joyful. If this is enough for you, then Eric's work is definitely not your thing. But if you're looking for creating reality and REACTING with truth, nothing surpasses this Work.

I know that Meryl Streep, Brando, Ed Norton, Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and a handful of other amazing actors don't fake it, don't just indicate the realities of the character and the circumstances. They create them. Be it imagined stimuli they are creating, or through the available stimulus around them, they open themselves up and REACT truthfully to everything -the other actors, the set, the space, the props, the object or person via Sense Memory, etc. I KNOW they do this for a fact! They've talked about it for years.

Eric helps you get to the place that they do-where you can function truthfully, where your instrument is accessible and available, where you are open and are willing to go where the character needs to go, emotionally, psychologically, and physically.

My advice is read Eric's books. If they pique any interest in you, if they strike a cord, study with Eric or Anthony, or at least contact them for further information about the system. I think you'll be quite surprised and utterly amazed at the tools this Work can provide you as an actor.

This one of the best books on acting ever published. It is also one of the only books where you can significantly improve just by reading the thing, "getting" it, and playing around with some of the exercises. Eric stumbled upon something great with his "Being State" stuff. However, I have studied with Eric, and run from Eric, and so have many established actors/celebrities. He is a total narcissist neurotic whose "craft" sucks all pleasure from acting. Personal recommendation: JUST READ HIS BOOK AND DON'T GO NEAR HIM.
And one more thing: Eric's books on imaging and craft and Carl Jung-based theories on acting are all bogus. If you read them you see how more and more self-indulgent and full of it he gets and how these lengthy pop-psychology theories are truly ignorant. Save your money but keep "No Acting Please" as a bible.

I discovered this book by accident years ago and it helped my acting tremendously. This, Being and Doing and Irreverent Acting --all by Eric Morris are some of the best books on acting ever written.

These books helped me stretch as an actor by suggesting exercises for my emotional instrument. I did them alone and found I could reach areas of emotions that were at one time foreign to me.

Incredibly helpful. Helped me grow as an actor, a teacher and a director!!

I am personally an Eric Morris actor. I live in Los Angeles and I attend his workshop weekly. Having actually experienced his Craft personally and by watching hundreds of others come and go, and succeed and fail: it has become strikingly obvious to me that his Work works. One of the elements of this uniquely personal Craft is that it can be very overwhelming and emotionally draining. Through my two plus years of experience in the Work, I have found that very few Eric Morris actors actually uses the Craft exactly as it is intended. I believe as do many of my contemporaries that the Craft provides the actor with a limitless supply of "acting" tools, which encourage the actor to experience truthfully. It is painfully obvious that "truth" or an organic expression of impulses and emotions is severely lacking in theatre, television and on screen. There is not one person who has come to class and gone on stage who has not gone through a substantial growth. Being a student of acting my entire life, on a constant pursuit of truth in my work, and having over 25 teachers since first grade: I have found the one teacher on the planet who can answer all of the difficult questions actors ask about the mysterious art of acting. If you have a thirst for truth in your acting and in how you live your life, you foolish to remain ignorant of Eric Morris.

I give this book a fairly high rating because all acting technique is personal. An actor's job in receiving training is to simply find the approach that works best for the individual. Method acting simply means to find one's own method. While responses to acting texts, approaches and classes are always subjective, one should always remain open for new ideas.

That said I reject Eric Morris' approach to acting on a personal and professional level.

As every actor knows (or at least should know), his/her job is "to do nothing more than to be believable while telling the best possible story that serves the script" (Bruce Morris). Or as Stanislavski defines acting: "Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances". The root of an actor's technique must always be action. Again with Stanislavski: "while on stage, an actor must always be enacting something". Action verbs are the basis of all acting/storytelling craft. An audience does not pay precious money to watch an actor have an emotional moment, but rather to have the moment themselves.

All the great acting teachers, building upon the work of Stanislavski, have stressed the importance of finding and playing an action as opposed to an emotion. Robert Lewis, Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Michael Checkov and even Lee Strassberg (although he ventured too far into the emotional realm) all taught students to find the appropriate action and embrace that reality as the basis for their storytelling craft. Emotions are the by product of a person engaging in an action and either failing or succeeding in the quest to fulfill that action.

Eric Morris' approach, centers on "Being" exercises. He asks his students to simply get up in front of a group of people and simply "Be". As related in this book, he proceeds to grill them about their day and call them on the carpet for any false emotion as he dredges for some emotional moment. Morris' approach, at least to this reader, comes off as simply another example of acting teacher "power tripping" as well as pseudo-therapy hidden in the guise of acting. This approach simply leads to the teacher holding such power over his/her students as they become obsessed with pleasing the teacher as opposed to truly pleasing the audience.

This approach leads to emotionally crippling an actor. Actor's become obsessed with evaluating their acting on the basis of whether or not they "felt" the scene. If an actor finds they cannot reach the emotion, they immediately fill themselves with a great sense of guilt and personal disgust at their inability to produce an emotion. Acting should ultimately be a freeing experience as well as a fun and celebratory bit of life. Many acting teachers and actors, bowing under the weight of thousands of years of social stigma feel that they must deny the "fun" factor of acting and make it a painful and serious affair.

As any director or acting teacher can attest, when one simply asks an actor to "be" on stage, one will watch an actor squirm, blink and fold inside him/her self. Put an actor on stage and ask him/her to push a giant stone up a mountain, one will watch a fantastic story filled with all the emotional truth an audience could ever hope to find.

The key to acting is not "being" it is in fact "doing". Apparently Morris has a workbook that combines the two concepts. I will certainly read that as well- again the justification for the high rating. I am still learning my craft and I pray I will always continue to do so.

NO ACTING PLEASE is certainly worth reading and worth trying though so that one can form their own opinion. After trying Morris' approach, this review is simply my opinion. Proceed with caution.

A wealth of excellent exercises. If you want to learn sense memory, this is the best way I've ever encountered. He is so specific and practical. And it works. He doesn't teach you to "imagine" a smell or a face. He shows you how to train your own senses to actually experience these things. It is a powerful tool for an actor. I am surprised and delighted when my senses kick in so quickly.

the book that i ordered was in great condition and was just as described on the ad and was received the next week.

This is a must have for any actor. Eric is the only teacher in the world that gives you ALL the tools you need to go beyond being a competent actor, and becoming an experiential actor (which is very much a good thing.) Eric's work leaves no stone unturned, giving the actor all the necessary tools to not only address a script (btw did I mention Eric Morris illuminates how to use practices from "The Method" better than anyone else alive) but also the tools to free the actors instrument, which happens to be the actor him/herself! This book is an outline of not only Eric's philosophy but how to apply it with exact and specific tools and exercises.

Not only have I read this book and his others but I have trained with the man himself and in my opinion he is unparalleled as an acting teacher in the world today. I and everyone in his class are challenged on a daily basis and our growth is incredible.

5 stars to "No Acting Please"!

Great Book! If your a true actor you need to have this in your collection. All the exercise work to better your instrument.

This book includes many drills, exercises, and games to help develop an actor's basic skills, but not much more than that. Don't expect anything on acting as you'd find in books by Uta Hagan, Stella Adler or Sanford Meisner. Even so, many of the drills and exercises can be helpful. The book goes into great depth on training sense memory.