| re: Crying On Command | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 12:28 am EST 03/01/24 | |
| In reply to: Crying On Command - kieran 04:50 am EST 02/29/24 | |
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| I have to say that I was a bit disturbed by that. I think that if there is a central element to good acting, it's being in the moment. And so much of what was said — not everything but a lot of it — seemed to me inimical to being in the moment. Of course, being in the moment is not the only element, but I think it's perhaps more crucial than anything else. Otherwise you're just seeing people repeating a result or pushing for a result. I suppose that if a director is demanding that an actor cry, the actor may feel there is no other choice but to think of something sad or upsetting or of a song that makes them cry, but I would think that acting teachers would emphasize that this is a last resort when something unfair is being demanded of you. Maybe some things that interviewees said were somewhat misrepresented in the article. Moving on to more general thoughts brought up by the article, I remember when Gielgud was on The Dick Cavett Show, and Cavett brought up that Gielgud had to cry on cue in Home, which Gielgud had done not that long before. And not only did Gielgud have to cry, there was nothing particularly evident to provoke the tears. Four people were sitting onstage talking. Well, at this point in the play, three of them were talking, while the fourth, played by Gielgud, was just listening, and then tears started streaming down his face. When questioned by Cavett, Gielgud said that he had the ability to cry whenever he wanted to. It was very easy for him. If I'm remembering correctly, he even demonstrated it. Kind of like Spencer Tracy in Adam's Rib. And this is from an American Theatre magazine interview with Kim Hunter. She was asked about the film of Streetcar. Here is some of what she said about Vivien Leigh: "At one point Kazan wanted to test her out. We had a scene together when she was telling me how much she needed Mitch. We did shot after shot after shot of the scene, so I finally went up to Gadge [Kazan's nickname was Gadge] and said, 'Tell me, am I covering her? What's the problem?' 'No,' he said, 'it's all fine. I'm just curious to see how many times she can drop a tear from her eye on exactly the same syllable.'" Btw, while I think it's a sort of good rule somewhat generally that "If the actor cries, the audience won't," I don't think it's invariably true. I think that if a character is greatly upset, and the crying seems right for the character and it comes naturally for the actor at that time, it can be very moving, and people in audiences may well cry, too. |
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