Thoughtful Child shares some..... well...... thoughts!

It all started when I found these old pictures of performances long ago.  I asked Thoughtful child what he thought of drama through the years and he sent me his musings across the country from college....................

This is Thomas- or Thoughtful Child, as I’m known hereabouts- here to give my thoughts on acting, as per ma Chere Mama’s request.

It’s been some years since I debuted on the stage- my first performance was as Alvin the Lost Boy in Peter Pan, directed by the great Julie Brunais. Alvin was the one who, in the movie, was portly, somewhat dim, and wore a bear outfit. It was hardly my most dignified role. Since then, I’ve been in twenty-five-odd productions to date, a figure only recently surpassed by Creative Child’s now thirty-odd.

Needless to say, one doesn’t act in twenty-five plays without enjoying it, so I suppose I should say what it is about acting that draws me so. There isn’t a simple answer, but there are a few musings that I’ve had that might be interesting.

Firstly, acting is something that I do pretty well. This is most likely due to the fact that Mum and Dad are both rather theatrical people, and the family’s been in plays for many, many years. Because I’m fairly good at acting, two things come to mind: the value acting has for my own personality, and the reaction of the audience to the performance.

Oberon

My personality is unquestionably dramatic. My older brother once told me that I have a tendency to be ‘histrionic,’ which I thought was a class-A word; you have to hand it to David, he’s come a long way verbally-speaking since his re-me-dial days. Anyway, I’m naturally histrionic, so to be onstage and performing feels very right and proper. At least for me, there’s no feeling more glorious than finishing a play and knowing, in all humility, that you did a very good job. Bowing to applause is like drinking fine wine.

However, much as I appreciate and value (hm, perhaps too much?) the glory of the stage, I don’t believe that the getting of glory is the point of acting. The audience applauds because they’ve been moved by what they’ve seen; for some reason, impossible to pin down precisely, the performance has touched a chord within the observers. For me, to move an audience to feel in their own selves what the character is meant to feel is beautiful; by doing so, I help the onlookers to understand themselves anew, to see deeper into their souls and glimpse a new facet of their humanity. It sounds high-falutin’ (and a little oxymoronic), but to act is a deed of truth.

There you have it: my more thought-out and exalted reason for enjoying what I do.












 Is this always my prime motivation? In spite of desiring the glory?

                                         Well, maybe.........