Paul Kuritz: Opinions

FUNDAMENTAL ACTING
 

This textbook on acting is an unconventional text. It is humble, it is more of a guidebook than a how—to book, it respects the reader as a human being as well as a student (or teacher) of acting, and it concentrates on two areas (seldom if ever) discussed in a book on the subject of performing: poetry and comedy The reader is in for a special treat and an especially valuable experience.
 

Kuritz is an imaginative teacher who knows that acting has to be caught as much as it has to be taught. Most teachers of acting, despite their haste to respect the craft of acting, feel convinced of the teachability of acting. Kuritz does not minimize the teaching aspect by which one develops the craft of acting; what he adds, however, is the recognition that the student of acting must position herself or himself to catch acting secrets and techniques, must prepare herself or himself with the human awareness that must be brought to the scene in order to catch the proper method of being believable. Kuritz provides the reader with fertile ground, not just because he offers exercises, but because he offers attitudes, thoughts, examples, information, all those qualities which provide fertile ground in which a plant can gain sustenance for growth. The reader is the plant, and Kuritz provides the soil, the sun, and leads the reader to the water necessary for flowering. This hook is a rare privilege.
 

The second portion of the book is given over to poetry, that form in which the theater had its beginnings. Aristotle’s book on the drama (theater) is titled, “The Poetics.” Rather than find poetry foreign to the drama, Kuritz like Aristotle, finds it central to the drama and to the theater. He also finds it central to the human spirit. Most students and teachers are frightened by the presence of poetry, annoyed by its difficulty, and hostile to its mystery. Kuritz dispels all these myths, and because he knows the value of poetry to each and every reader, makes the language and dynamics of poetry easily accessible to the reader, Rather than indulge the terror most often felt by theatrical people to confront poetry, Kuritz welcomes the advent of the poet and submerges himself in the poet’s genius. He therefore provides for the student of theater a rare, rare gift, the engagement of a young, naive, stage struck perhaps, eager, inspired, ambitious, student or teacher the opportunity to revel in the beauties and values of poetry. Shakespeare is not a foreign language to Kuritz and will not be a foreign language to his reader. The beauty, the clarity, the profundity of the poet suddenly becomes immediately available to his reader. Every young person knows how meaningful beautiful language is if no other reason than the absence of beautiful language in her or his everyday life. ‘We are buried in pedestrian speech, and yearn for beauty in our conversations. Kuritz doesn’t try to educate us; he simply exposes us to the intricacies and again to the value of poetry in the theater, providing the reader with the confidence and the comfort to express the poet’s words. An acting student (or teacher) is given, then, a dimension almost always lacking in acting instruction in this country. Just as poetry is natural for the youngest human being (nursery rhymes are not by chance!), so poetry is natural for the theater artist. Bravo Mr. Kuritz.
 

Now for comedy. The reader of this book is living at a time when comedy is even more significant than it has been in the past. I recently wrote a chapter in a book, a chapter called, “Do We have To Be Funnier Than We Used To have To Be?” with the answer given in no uncertain terms, “Yes! You Bet!” I don’t try to explain that conclusion, but I do make it without any reservation. Look at the contemporary plays and see the role of comedy: As Is (the first major play about AIDS which has a laugh track all the way through!), End Of The World With Symposium to Follow, Kopit’s play which has as its subject the title itself and is filled with raucous laughter, even Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass during which people kept turning to each other saying, “I never knew Arthur Miller was so funny.” The writers frequently writing out of a poetic spirit are writing plays filled with irony, paradox, ambiguity, and satire. To perform the contemporary playwrights, actors need not only a sense of humor onto an audience, BECAUSE THE PLAYWIGHT HAS MADE SUCH PROJECTION AN IMPERATIVE. Any student needs to know comedy, its secrets, its difficulties, and its execution. No longer can the actor rely on authenticity alone to perform in today’s theater. An actor may not be witty, but today’s actor has to know wit when she or he hears it, enjoy wit, treasure wit, and if possible love wit. Comedy has become the single serious expression during the last few decades and will continue uninterrupted, I am sure, for the next century. We have discovered the riches, the profundity, and the pleasure of comedy. Varieties of comedy are endless, unlike tragedies. The acting student and teacher must be informed of those varieties, must seek them out, and must project them to make them accessible. Acting comedy, as Kuritz makes clear, is the most difficult kind of acting to master. It is also the most satisfying, the most complex, and in the end the most valuable, Kuritz equips his reader with the most significant elements for genuine success in the craft of acting. I know no other text which takes comedy so seriously. My congratulations, my admiration, and my gratitude to him.
 

Howard Stein,
 

Former Dean of Faculty and Students, Yale School of Drama