"The
King's Jester" as he became known, following a performance for Edward VII
at Sandringham, pioneered a style of stand-up comedy featuring comic songs
interspersed with character monologues, where he would talk directly to the
audience. Leno managed to evoke a whole gallery of characters, based on minute
observation, which conjured up the street life of London, where people gossiped
on their doorsteps and through open windows.
To Dan
Leno, a pantomime character was a real character; a character to be as
carefully studied and
thought out
as that of the emotionally complex nature of a heroine in a problem play.
Leno’s
friend and first biographer, the pantomime librettist, J.
'Hickory' Wood (John J. Wood, 1859-1925), records in his
book, ‘Dan Leno’ (Methuen & Co. 1905), that after going through his part of
Sister Anne, in the pantomime ‘Bluebeard’, for the fifth time, Leno told him
that he was "…afraid …very much afraid!". Wood asked Leno, if it was
because he didn’t like the part, to which he replied, "Oh yes, I like the
part very much. I see so much in it that I’m afraid I shall overdo it, and I
don't want to do that."
This is
echoed by English actor, Eddie Marsan, (‘Gangs of New York', ‘Sixty Six’, ‘Pierrepoint’, ‘Sherlock Holmes’, ‘Sherlock
Holmes: A Game of Shadows’, etc.), who
is quoted as saying, “There's no great mystery to acting. It's a very simple
thing to do but you have to work hard at it. It's about asking questions and
using your imagination. The trick to acting is not to show off it's to think
the thoughts of the character.”
Stanley
Baxter, noted for his exacting and demanding nature was, from the 1950s until his
retirement in 1992, one of Britain's top pantomime dames. In an interview in
the journal ‘Plays and Players’, December 1977, it is reported that “…in the
evolution of a performance, he doesn’t think about where he’ll get laughs until
a very late stage. The early work is concentrated on those dramatic high points
that he regards as keys to his character’s development.”
Listen to
‘Stanley Baxter on Perfect Panto’ at - bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nq670
I
particularly like his opening statement about the acting side of pantomime, and
the ‘Aladdin’ anecdote is priceless.
Have a look
at the ‘Gracie Allen: Truth in Comedy’ on the Travalanche blog.- travsd.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/gracie-allen-truth-in-comedy/
- where guest blogger, actor/writer,
Lauren Milberger profiles one half of the brilliant Burns and Allen comedy duo.
Significant
snippets include…
“Everything Gracie Allen the character said on stage,
Gracie Allen the woman believed, and so in turn did the audience.”
“She didn’t think she was funny… “
“And once George ventured out on his own she reminded
him of the lessons she had taught him when they first met - truthfulness. If he
didn’t believe what he was saying, how could the audience?”
“George said he learned a lot from
Gracie, but the most important was, “She taught me that you’ve got to make it
sound like you’ve never said it before …” “
But there’s lots more.
It's quite easy to imitate a character or even an emotion, but you must give the audience more than that before you can call yourself an actor.
It's quite easy to imitate a character or even an emotion, but you must give the audience more than that before you can call yourself an actor.
The aim of an actor should be
to become a fully realised, three-dimensional character, with a credible
history. The audience must believe the character you play is a real person and
not a ludicrously inadequate or inaccurate imitation. They must
believe what you say is real, and that you're not simply delivering lines, especially
if you haven’t learnt or understood them properly.
“Until a character becomes a personality, it cannot be believed. Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal. And without personality, a story cannot ring true to the audience.” Walt Disney
So, to sum up... the show-offs should shove off. Hasta la bye-bye!
“Until a character becomes a personality, it cannot be believed. Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal. And without personality, a story cannot ring true to the audience.” Walt Disney
So, to sum up... the show-offs should shove off. Hasta la bye-bye!
