Acting Without Agony: An Alternative to the Method by Don Richardson

Acting Without Agony: An Alternative to the Method Reviews

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  James

  One of the greatest teachers and mentors for acting and directing. I experienced his presence, wisdom, and guidance through riveting classes that had me up most of the night. His private classes are cherished on my journey. A must read for anyone with interest in the topic.
• 
  Molly

  The title says it all. Nice read. Practicing with Brad Heller right now (Don's protege). If you're interested in classes, give me a buzz. Their technique booked me my first theatrical agent.
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  Jeremy Moran

  Extremely grateful to have gotten the opportunity to read this! What turned me on to Don Richardson was discovering that he was John Cassavetes’ acting mentor and I have always found John Cassavetes’ work as an actor to be incredible, almost as much as his work as a filmmaker; so, I absolutely had to find out for myself.
  
  And I was not disappointed. It was interesting to read this book after finishing Stanislavski’s An Actor’s Work, as Richardson describes several different aspects of Stanislavski’s work that he draws on here. He also negates the work of Uta Hagen, Stella Adler (to a certain extent), but absolutely fails against Lee Strasberg and all the damage he has done to the American actor and the American theatre—and you could even argue film!
  
  Don Richardson was a member of the famous Group Theatre and since he knew Strasberg, the Adlers, and Elia Kazan personally, I think his criticisms of their work, as beginners and professionals, is valid. He attributes most of his work to his own mentor Charles Jehlinger, who taught acting in a very simple approach.
  
  This book’s subtitle is “An Alternative to the Method”—which only further points out Richardson’s obvious disgust with what people think the “Method” is and all things Strasberg related—and here, Richardson outlines how the modern actor can arrive at a good performance without having to burden one’s own mental state to get the performance. In most cases anyways, when an audience is engaging with an actor who is losing his mind for the role, it looks self-serving, pretentious, and lacking in emotional connection between the audience member and performer. But here, Richardson explains how simple acting can be and how the actor can arrive at better performances in easier and simpler ways, bringing acting back to the feeling of playing pretend when people were children. He explains mostly that emotions are the basis of a good actor and that it is directly tied to the physical! Something which is oftentimes forgotten when dealing with lovers of Strasberg and actors who exhibit naughty behavior for a mumbling performance. (Strasberg based his method on HALF of Stanislavski’s teachings, pushing it as the real thing, which is a conversation for another time). He also waxes poetic that the the best work you can get is through lots and lots of rehearsal and work at home. You can’t use techniques in the middle of the performance—you need a fully realized character!
  
  Richardson sounds like a great guy to have known and I found myself laughing quite a lot at certain actors whose performances were lackluster, although their names are associated with great praise, or in approaches that have been told to work but really only end up alienating audience members. I really enjoyed this book and I found the advice to be straightforward, helpful, and honest.
• 
  Robin Gott

  At last, a book about acting that makes sense. It's long out of print but I was lucky enough to find a copy. Practical, no bullshit and very doable advice here.
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  David Breedlove

  This book by Don Richardson is dedicated to the teachings of Charles Jehlinger, an acting teacher who taught Don Richardson. This is an alternative to "The Method," as the title reads, and provides acting principles for the modern day. The methods described here are extremely useful and effective. I am not an actor by any means, but these acting practices really work. This book is insightful in not only discovering a character you want to play, but more about yourself too.