Heavy Pencil: The Truth About Acting

Heavy Pencil is an actor's handbook, now in its second edition, offering fresh insight into the world of storytelling along with concise, practical advice on rehearsal and performance technique, focusing in particular on Shakespeare and exploring the notion that the route to good acting and story telling lies above all else in the actor's ability to play the text - that the actor need look no further than the text to 'find his character' because the text itself is the 'character'. It is not only useful for the drama school graduate about to enter the professional world of acting but also for the seasoned professional actor who wishes to have a concise reminder of the key points that make for effective storytelling. The first part of the book is in part a philosophical approach to what it means to be an actor and the strange and fickle world we enter as professional story tellers. In particular it addresses the whole notion of what it means to be a 'successful' actor in a world where work is scarce and recognition of 'good acting' by the rest of the world is reserved to a few fortunate individuals picking up prizes at televised award ceremonies. It makes the point that success - as in all walks of life - is about a state of mind and an approach to one's work. The second half of the book concentrates on practical advice for rehearsal and performance and includes a series of exercises at the end of the book for the actor to explore what has been written and discussed throughout. The key thrust of the argument is that in a text-based play, the text is the most important factor in the room. The acting IS the text. Without the text there are no actors and there is no story to tell. All one's actions, motivations and objectives are bound up in the text and all the actor has to do is to excavate the text - like a geological dig - and the blueprint, the performance 'map' will be revealed. Actors over-complicate matters with their 'acting' - the truth of the matter is that effective storytelling is easier than we think. The key lies in our ability to deliver the text.