The seven truths of acting

Eh,who cares? Telling the truth can never be bad,can it? remarks John Bashford,theatre actor and the vice-principal of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Theatre actor and vice-principal of LAMDA,John Bashford,on techniques that can propel an actor to the international stage

Eh,who cares? Telling the truth can never be bad,can it? remarks John Bashford,theatre actor and the vice-principal of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Bashford has been conducting theatre workshops in the city,the last one slotted for today at the Film & Television Institute of India. Actors tell the truth as it is,he says. In fact,actors have been looked down upon because they have never been afraid to take on the unknown head-on. In the words of Shakespeare,Actors hold the mirror up to nature. That is a reason why societal norms usually confine them and actors,in turn,break those confines in order to explore our own hollowness.

Bashford has already conducted three workshops for the LAMDA examiners and for the students at FLAME University,Pune. The workshops on the ‘Seven Stages of Attention’ aim at encouraging the actor to explore the idea of using his or her inner energy and connecting it with the physical energy of their bodies. It is about giving up the intellectual and exploring the intuitive levels of the human mind and being able to embrace the inner self from which we usually keep away. In simple words,one cannot actually explain the seven stages of attention because it deals more with the human mind and not the physical aspect of acting,but then again so do most art forms, he says.

Bashford feels that the influx of global acting techniques within the country has enabled actors to take their craft to an international stage. It’s more of a two-way street,isn’t it? The concept of teaching acting and its techniques needs to be promoted between both teachers as well as students. This is of prime importance in a country like India, he says.

Bashford came to India two weeks back,for the auditions for LAMDA in Delhi. The aim behind conducting auditions is to ascertain whether the candidate really deserves the training or the need to be polished. We are not looking for someone who can recite Shakespeare monologues by heart, he says. But yes,we are interested in working with actors who are not afraid to explore themselves,to remove their mental blocks and bring with them interesting concepts that can help them grow as actors, he adds.

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The seven truths of acting

Eh,who cares? Telling the truth can never be bad,can it? remarks John Bashford,theatre actor and the vice-principal of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Eh,who cares? Telling the truth can never be bad,can it? remarks John Bashford,theatre actor and the vice-principal of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.