How to Act

Graham Eatough

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781786822772
• eBook ISBN: 9781786822789
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Internationally renowned theatre director Anthony Nicholl has travelled the globe on a life-long quest to discover the true essence of theatre. Today, he gives a masterclass, demonstrating first-hand the methods he cultivated in Africa and throughout the world. Promise, an aspiring actress, has been hand-picked to participate. What unfolds between them forces Nicholl to question all of his assumptions about his life and art. How to Act explores the contemporary realities of personal, cultural and economic exploitation through two individuals drawn together in the theatre. Both believe in truth, but each has their own version of it.

The empty stage of a theatre.

ANTHONY NICHOLL is standing on stage looking at the audience, smiling, greeting them as they come in.

Once everyone is seated, PROMISE gets up to address the audience.

PROMISE:Hi everyone. My name is Promise and I’ve been asked to introduce our special guest this afternoon.

(Reading from notes.) We’re extremely fortunate to have with us today one of the most influential figures working on our stages at this time.

NICHOLL begins to move towards the front row of the audience. He seems to be looking towards their feet.

PROMISE:His work, often controversial, sometimes shocking, but always invigorating, has inspired audiences and theatre makers alike with its refusal to allow the theatre to stand still or grow comfortable in its old age.

NICHOLL:(Quietly, not wanting to interrupt.) Excuse me. Would you mind if I borrowed your shoes?

PROMISE:(Momentarily distracted.) We’re very lucky this afternoon to be witness to one of his rare public appearances back in the UK after several years out of the spotlight.

NICHOLL:Just for the workshop. You can have them back at the end. You don’t have to do anything. Don’t worry. No dreaded audience participation. /How about you Madam? They won’t be damaged I promise. Is that okay? That’s great. Thanks very much.

PROMISE:/And we’re even luckier to have persuaded him to explore with us this evening some of the seminal ideas and approaches developed through his extensive research in Africa and Asia that have informed his theatre making over the years.

NICHOLL:/Ooh, now they’re perfect. Would you mind Sir? No harm shall befall them, or you. I promise. That’s a great help. Thanks.

NICHOLL continues to collect shoes from the audience until he has seven pairs.

PROMISE:(Looking up to audience.) I’m lucky enough to have been chosen from all of us to be a participant in this masterclass. I hope you can see me as your representative on stage here today and that through me we can all gain an insight into this remarkable man and his ideas. So, without keeping you waiting any longer, it is my very great honour to present to you Anthony Nicholl.

NICHOLL is still preoccupied with the shoes, holding them, inspecting them. Finally, he realises it’s his turn to speak.

As he speaks the following, he carries the shoes carefully onto the stage, setting each pair down separately so that they form a circle including his own pair. The circle should eventually be about 3 metres in diameter, with the shoes pointing into the centre of the stage like the hour markers of a clock face. He pays particular attention to which pair should go in what position.

NICHOLL:Thanks very much.
Well first of all. Can we not call this a ‘masterclass’? Is that okay? I’m hoping that our next hour together will be a bit more interesting than a ‘class’, and I, for sure, am no one’s master.

‘So what is this then’ you’re entitled to ask. ‘If it’s not a masterclass, what is it? What are we all doing here today?’ These are very good questions.

Here you are sat together in the dark. Here I am on stage talking to you. But why? You think I can do something for you perhaps? Give you something? Satisfy some need? Help with some problem maybe. But what?

You see, I think we all know the answer to these questions even if we don’t like to admit it. We know what the problem is. Deep down we all know why we’re here. The truth is that theatre is dying and we all know it. It might be a slow lingering death with sporadic signs of revival, but it’s a death nonetheless.

And we all feel a bit sad about that because we here, in this room, we all like the theatre. We all think that theatre is generally a good thing, that the world is a better place for theatre being in it. But at the same time we feel guilty because we, our society, are also the killers. We’re killing it with our addiction to ‘entertainment’. Our desire for easy spectacle. Our overwhelming need to escape. To escape ourselves, who we are. To escape the truth. And in place of the truth we ask our theatre to tell us lies. Lies, that deadly disease. We’ve infected theatre with this sickness and it now seems beyond cure.

And whatever we do to try and save it only seems to make things worse. Our constant attempts to make theatre something it’s not, a nightclub, a cinema, a crèche or confessional, has so crippled what is at heart the simplest of experiences as to...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Characters
• Chapter
• By the same author