ON ACTING: Tragedy and Responsibility

There can be no tragedy without choice; no choice without conviction; no conviction without belief; no belief without accountability/responsibility.

Today's drama suffers from too much bathos, not enough tragedy. It is doctrinaire drama: the social realism of victimization, the lowly art of focusing on illustrating the dramatic futility of our lives, highlighting our personal irresponsibility for our actions. Shakespeare wrote: “The fault, Dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in we ourselves”. Today, we have flipped the coin, willingly given over responsibility for our lives to the stars. We are cowards.

THERE CAN BE NO TRAGEDY WITHOUT CHOICE; NO CHOICE WITHOUT BELIEF; NO BELIEF WITHOUT THE PASSIONATE WILLINGNESS TO FIGHT FOR OUR CONVICTIONS, WHETHER RIGHT OR WRONG...AND, IRONICALLY, IN DRAMA, TO FIGHT EVEN HARDER FOR THE ERRONEOUS ONES; AND BE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE.