The
technique of Practical Aesthetics is outlined and explained in
A Practical Handbook for the Actor, written by members of the
Atlantic Theater Co, Melissa Bruder et al.
To the Student Actor:
I know that you are dedicated and eager - eager to learn, eager
to believe, eager to find a way to bring that art that you
feel in yourself to the stage. You are legitimately willing
to sacrifice, and you think that the sacrifice required of
you is a subjugation to the will of a teacher. But a more
exacting sacrifice is required: you must follow the dictates
of your common sense.
Stanislavski once wrote that you should "play well or
badly, but play truly." It is not up to you whether your
performance will be brilliant - all that is under your control
is your intention. It is not under your control whether your
career will be brilliant - all that is under your control is
your intention.
If you intend to manipulate, to show, to impress, you may
experience mild suffering and pleasant triumphs. If you intend
to follow the truth you feel in yourself - to follow your common
sense and force your will to serve you in the quest for discipline
and simplicity - you will subject yourself to profound despair,
loneliness, and constant self-doubt. And if you persevere,
the Theatre, which you are learning to serve, will grace you,
now and then, with the greatest exhilaration it is possible
to know.
David Mamet
Cabot, Vermont 1985
Excerpted from the introduction to
A Practical Handbook for the Actor (Random House)
