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The Craft of Comedy
A comedian of the British theatre discusses her theories on the art of comedy in a series of letters to a colleague
114 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 23, 2024
Loved it. Lovely, charming, wise, interesting, useful, thought-provoking.
"[T]his business of whether one is to be a great, an utterly self-absorbed actor, or whether one can allow oneself to lead a fairly normal life, with the wider spheres of interest which can develop one's personality beyond mere egoism. Although I desire the wealth and success and the satisfaction of achievement I resent the narrowing down of one's mental development which seems to be the price of these things. As I hate doing things half-heartedly I have often decided to leave the stage and earn my living in some other way rather than endure this perpetual struggle between self-development and self-advertisement. What has prevented me has been the ever-increasing fascination which the art of the theatre exercises over me, and the sheer ambition of achieving perfection in this art - a hopeless ambition since we all know that no true artist ever believes he has achieved perfection. There is also the comradeship of the theatre: it is a unique one and a very precious compensation for the difficulties we encounter."
"[T]his business of whether one is to be a great, an utterly self-absorbed actor, or whether one can allow oneself to lead a fairly normal life, with the wider spheres of interest which can develop one's personality beyond mere egoism. Although I desire the wealth and success and the satisfaction of achievement I resent the narrowing down of one's mental development which seems to be the price of these things. As I hate doing things half-heartedly I have often decided to leave the stage and earn my living in some other way rather than endure this perpetual struggle between self-development and self-advertisement. What has prevented me has been the ever-increasing fascination which the art of the theatre exercises over me, and the sheer ambition of achieving perfection in this art - a hopeless ambition since we all know that no true artist ever believes he has achieved perfection. There is also the comradeship of the theatre: it is a unique one and a very precious compensation for the difficulties we encounter."
January 8, 2019
Absolutely fantastic book on the roots of comedy with delightful advice to the actor.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews