Prose   

 IF LAURENCE Olivier were not to happen to theatre -- and acting -- the world’s culture would have been left with a little void. The man carved out a unique niche for himself all right -- but that was not because he was a handsome man. He did so because for him, his art was an everlasting search of truth! Let us admit that many actors -- men and women -- in human history have realised this and have trodden a path in that exploration of truth. In the process, most have arrived at a better understanding of self. “That is what I mean by ‘truth’, you know,” Sir Laurence had said. His famous book On Acting (released in 1986) offers a good treatise on that search. Like all actors -- men and women -- of merit, Sir Laurence Olivier chased the characters he played -- from Shakespearean drama or other works -- first within himself. That enabled him to unlock various nuances that enriched his role-playing on the stage. That effort can be interpreted this way: Each individual person has multiple layers that carry in their folds labyrinthine spaces that hold countless characters miniaturised in memory-file of overall experience.  

 

The actor’s search brings forth their nuances, their external attributes or internal traits and helps him or her to actualise the picture to be portrayed as part of the play or cinematic expression. In one of his contemplative moments, Sir Laurence Olivier had said, “The art of persuasion. The actor persuades himself, first, and through himself, the audience”. Such contemplation was Sir Laurence’s way of delving deep into himself and coming up with the portrayal of characters he played. Most actors, of course, do that -- of getting under the character’s skin, imbibing its traits and presenting those to the audiences. “What is acting but lying and what is good lying is convincing lying”, Sir Laurence had said half-jokingly, though. But even through that light-hearted observation, he was only highlighting yet another facet of his theatrical art -- the ability to persuade the audience about a non-existent character. Lying convincingly! This is a very difficult part of the art of acting -- happening in the thought-process.

 

On stage, however, things are different. There are three ‘persons’ at work at once -- the actor the person, the character, and the watcher (in the actor’s heart, observing the activity, monitoring its truthfulness, making corrections) so that the act of persuasion is complete -- from himself to the audience. Many, many thespians have made elaborate observations on this, in the process enriching their art, their belief that they were ordained to create imagery that stands on the assumption of truth -- in the minds of the audience individually and collectively. All that effort creates light at both ends -- at the actor’s who tries to go closer to what Sir Laurence Olivier calls ‘truth’, and at audience’s that allows itself to believe in its manifestation.