ON ACTING: An 'Honest' Performance

An honest performance is one in which the actor-as-character pursues their objectives and deals with the vicissitudes of plot without any special insight.

The honest actor-as-character has little special perspective of past, presence or future as she/he strives for his/her goals; they are too busy striving to successfully survive--to force life to conform to their purposes--to have much objectivity or overview on it. An honest performance is a performance where the actor-as-character lives the life of the unwitting patient and not the all knowing psychiatrist. Or: an honest actor-as-character lives the life of a burrowing hedgehog rather than a soaring eagle.