ON ACTING: Fate is a Surprise

Characters are generally thrown--unknowingly, unwillingly and unconsciously--into their fateful whirlpool of comedy and drama. They are forced, generally kicking and screaming, by the perverse nature of the Writer, into the maelstrom of the story.

Hman beings don't want to be part of comedy or tragedy; only actors. Characters--like everyday people--don't want it. In fact they do everything they can to avoid it. Who likes to be laughed at, humiliated, made to cry or be angry? Only actor; not people. People are what actors portray in acting; not actors.

I drive to work. I expect a happy, easy commute (all right: maybe LA is different). But...even an LA driver doesn't expect...and aim for...an accident. I, along with other commuters with whom I share the road, are unaware of any particular meaningfulness to this day, any expectation of trouble, tragic...or comic. So when the accident happens to six of us, and we are all caught up in the disastrous--or disasterously funny--consequences, we are totally surprised.

Actors should do the same: remain as oblivious as possible to the facts and fate of their (their character's) future. It has been said that scenes happen to the character; they don't happen because the actor wants them to happen. A rule worth heeding.