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Review
'My advice to a young actor: read this book' Richard Eyre 'Buy it, and be delightfully and unhectoringly informed about exactly what it is that actors get up to and why... Harriet Walter is sharp, clear, elegant, sturdily sensitive' Simon Callow, Observer 'A fascinating insight into the working life of an actor... very enjoyable' Jeanette Winterson, The Times
Product Description
A wonderfully practical - and personal - introduction to acting by someone at the top of her profession who can really do it. ***New edition with new introduction by the author*** "Acting is what I do with who I am", writes Harriet Walter - and in this book she takes us step by step through the processes involved in performance. And each step of the way is illuminated with brilliantly precise examples drawn from her own experience.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Harriet Walter provides the reader with intelligent, erudite, honest and frequently hilarious insights into the life of a working actor. This is not an autobiography. Rather, it is the accumulation of thoughts and opinions acquired throughout a varied and distinguished career in acting. She concentrates on certain periods in her working life at times - formative experiences that are always enlightening and truthful - whilst, at other points, she focusses on various aspects of the actor's craft.
This is not a pretentious book in any sense. It retains,to it's credit, an acute sense of being down to earth, whilst addressing key areas of working in the theatre.It is a refreshing blend of personal reflection, critical analysis and anecdotal recollection.
It is an immensely enjoyable book about a notoriously difficult subject. Harriet Walter does not fall into the trap of theorising etc.. Instead she puts herself before you in the pages of the book - much as an actor does on stage.
Anyone interested in the theatre, or indeed working in it, will be thoroughly rewarded in reading this book - excellent!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Writing about the acting process is fiercely difficult process - most actors are at a complete loss for words when asked to desribe what they do - and this book is most successful when Walter is writing about her life as an actor rather than describing acting exercises. Much of the material she does include on acting technique is better covered in Max Stafford-Clark's "Letters to George". Walter herself is adamant in the introduction that this is not a manual on acting, but simply, as the title suggests, a collection of thoughts that grew out of conversations with a journalist friend.
Having said that (and got my one criticism of the book out of the way) this is a really lovely read. She is a candid and vulnerable writer, with a disarmingly unselfconscious wit. I read this on the tube (London Underground) in 15 min chunks each morning and evening, and felt as though I had had a wonderful travelling companion to distract me from the sweaty, irritable hoards that filled the train.
Thank you, Harriet - you have been great company.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a actor-in-training, it is nice to pick up a book that offers a lot of profound insights on acting without being depressingly preachy and uptight. Walter offers acting exercises that she has found useful, describes her rehearsal process, and talks about her acting life in general. She also offers us some wonderful anecdotes about her life in theatre... sometimes funny, sometimes touching, always lovely to learn. Like the previous reviewer, I found this book to be not what I expected... but something a lot better. Unlike many other books on acting I've read, this one left wishing I could grab Harriet Walter and get to know her better and/or work with her (as opposed to closing the book, sighing and thanking god that I live nowhere near her).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent!
I am someone intersted generally in theatre and trying to be a part of an educated audience, hence I was after a book that would give me an insight into the actor's work and will... Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2009 by I. Ruseva
Excellent!!
Rather than a tell-all, acting manual, or autobiography, this is a profound yet funny book about acting and life. Read more
Published on 2 July 1999
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