COACHING BLOG (No. 1)
I’m having a problem coaching some actors recently.
They are all experienced, professional, and actually getting jobs sometimes, but since Covid started I’ve noticed that many of them seem to be – and I hate to using the word – lazy!
Of course I don’t tell them that, and it may be my fault for not inspiring them more. But it does seems that – since Covid began – some experienced actors want me to do everything for them !
Some want coaching on scenes or monologues without them researching the plays. Others have not learned their lines, saying they’ve been “busy doing other things”.
And I’m calling the problem ‘ ALIBI-WORK ’.
It’s what criminals do, and some actors, and sometimes myself! When criminals want police to think they’ve not done a crime they make up an alibi to show they were somewhere else at the time, and some actors say they are ‘busy’ – researching new agents, new audition chances, new photographers, or they’ve been busy improving their websites and showreels, but they are not actually getting any work. The time they’ve been “busy” has been ALIBI-WORK.
I waste time myself, but we have to make time spent relaxing lead to some action. The play we keep saying we’re writing must be given a reading. The monologue we think that excites us needs to be studied in depth by re-reading the play countless times and running the play online with a few friends.
And the pleasure of watching football all day must inspire us to find ‘goals’ in Shakespeare or David Mamet, or the great Sam Shepherd, or even – if you if you think they’re worth it (which I don’t now) Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller!
I don’t want to sound unkind, but since Covid I find more actors coming to me without taking their work seriously. So I’ve decided to change how I speak to them!
I’m telling experienced actors not to come to me unless they prepare for a session more, and telling beginners to find someone else unless they do the same. So maybe they’ll stop coming to me!
But if actors are using me for an alibi then where is my joy in coaching them? In a few weeks I’ll see how they react to my bossy new tone!
