“The extraordinary British actor, Ian Holm, once said: “Anything you can do I can do less of”.
What a fantastic way of reminding actors to trust: trust the text, trust the moment, trust the image, trust themselves, trust the audience. The interplay between trust and permission is of huge benefit to actors, once they begin to understand each.
The most subtle and most bold performances I have witnessed have these two components at their very core – both in balance and both supporting the creative drive and its fullest expression. Subtlety and strength, simplicity and severity – both are always possible and both should always be available to every actor – in an audition, casting or a rehearsal – for they each lie at the centre of the human experience: micro or macro, domestic or epic, all are real and known by us and drama is fuelled and created by both. ”
Dean Carey
