On spontaneity

I like total spontaneity on stage, after six weeks of careful rehearsal - Noel Coward
That quote appears in Conference of the Birds by John Heilpern which featured here recently. But others think randomness is a very precious thing.

Also on Facebook and Twitter. Photo of Noel Coward via Emsworth. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Comments

Lyle Sanford, RMT said…
This sent me back to find a Coward quote Terry Teachout put up over a year ago, which I posted on because it says a lot about what it means to perform.

"I very much disapprove of the adage that you have to feel the performance completely every night on the stage. This is technically an impossibility, and really is the negation of the art of acting. The art of acting, after all, is not actual feeling but simulation of feeling, and it is impossible to feel a strong emotional part eight performances a week, including two matinées."

Noël Coward, "The Art of Acting" (The Listener, Oct. 12, 1961)
4:07 pm
billoo said…
I think Richard Burton said much the same in an interview with Parky. Which makes me wonder about pli's earlier post: thinking completely with the body..to take up the Conference theme: I think the sufis would also say, commenting on the 'miraj' literature, that even at 'the utmost limit' the Prophet remained the Prophet, the I is not annihilated.
5:36 am
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