Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: The Actor and the Target

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From Canada

This will change the way you think about acting and directing

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 8, 2013

So many thought provoking insights about how an actor can approach a role and should approach a role.
Simple ways to unravel complicated characters(Juliet from Romeo and Juliet) is the main example he uses.
So before you read this book read Romeo and Juliet and it’ll be that much better.
My favourite line in the book is “what does your character want to be and what does your character afraid s/he’ll become”
Very simple but we all ask ourselves that question and it thrusts us into action!

One person found this helpful

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kelly daniels

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

A revelation! Every actor, director and teacher should read this book.

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From other countries

Connie Pearce

An incredible and honest book about learning how to “unblock” yourself as an actor

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

I’m an aspiring actor I’ve been taking acting classes for three years now, I think about acting obsessively and reading the introduction of this book the hours and hours of thought I had in my head was written and published and here it was all in one place. Reading this book was like reading a map of my journey as an actor. It validated all of the thoughts I thought were crazy compared to how my non actor friends saw the world. This is an amazing book a MUST read if your an actor of any status. I highly recommend this book I learned so much about how to not get “blocked” or “stuck” while researching/creating/portraying a character along with real world stereotypes actors are faced with like “all actors are liars” and “anyone can learn how to act” There is a reason this book is published in 3 countries. It is Brilliant. And I enjoyed and thought deeply about every paragraph in this book.

Thank you for your time, and reading my review. I honestly hope you buy this book weather it is for you or an actor you know.

2 people found this helpful

David Partch

Simply amazing! A must read for all actors and directors.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 11, 2017

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Not only is this the best book on acting I have yet encountered -- and I have read many -- but it is an amazingly insightful and instructive take on life itself. After having studied Stanislavski at length and feeling quite intrigued and comfortable with his approach, I first was afraid that Donnellan was standing everything on its head and I was going to have to start all over again. But upon further review and more thinking I realize that Donnellan just takes things so much further and into a whole new realm -- something Strasberg thought he was doing, but wasn't. I have read and reread the book several times now and every time it gives me whole new perspectives. This is a book not only for any actor but also for any person who wants to better understand him/herself and the world around them. If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would. Off the scale would be appropriate. This is something every actor and director should read and take to heart. Although they probably won't have a true appreciation of it without an extensive and thorough background in Stanislavski as well as the appropriate patience to explore the depth of Donnellan's writing. But it's certainly well worth it.

One person found this helpful

Mark S. Mandell

The roadmap you can't travel without

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 3, 2015

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As an actor, if you take the trouble to really assimilate what this author explains, you'll find it's not just obvious but a most invaluable source and thus unquestionably one of the clearest, most ingenious means of "finding yourself" amidst the occasional confusing acting scenes that could have you feeling you're lost. THAT in and of itself qualifies it as a brilliant road map for getting you back on track so you don't stay mired in "not knowing" how to proceed with whatever text you're struggling with. So glad my current acting teacher recommended it but then his own technique could very well be influenced by it. However, I would add that for as insightful and practical as the book is, the occasional digressive musings of the author can make the material dense and a little bit incomprehensible but despite all that do not at all detract from the book's overall greatness.

Something in the book particularly resonated. When he stated the uselessness of the actor attempting to answer the classic "Who am I?"
question I thought immediately of Daniel Day Lewis who operates in that very manner which at least in part accounts for his being the
great actor he is.

One person found this helpful

Considered Opinions

A frustrating read: I have no idea what the author is saying.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 14, 2022

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As an actor I have read a fair number of books on acting, in each of which I find useful ideas, more in some than in others. But I can’t begin to get a handle on this one. Reading the same paragraph, or sentence, over and over, I can’t figure out what the author is trying to get across.

TR650

Right on Target

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 23, 2011

Verified Purchase

This book is different. If you are a young actor struggling with understanding playing action, sense memory, substitutions, or if none of these things are part of your process, then don't buy this book.... YET! Instead look into Uta Hagen's book, Respect for Acting, or perhaps even Robert Cohen's book, Acting One.

This book assumes that the reader has been trained in modern acting theory, that the actor reading it has understanding of how to play and build a character, and yet still struggles (as we all do) with forms of "block". The author often uses the phrases/teachings of other acting teachers to point out that it is in fact the framing of some of these "tools" that leads to block. Not that the other theorist's ideas are incorrect, but rather that each actor needs to frame his/her process differently, and that the "target" dictates more of the game than we often think. Little of this is plainly stated in the book, much of it is implied, and if the reader hasn't the breadth of experience much of the potential firepower in this text may be missed. Each time you read it you will see another layer.

It's a fantastic book for any actor trying to re-evaluate, or sharpen his/her process. It is loaded with truth.

22 people found this helpful

Carolina Diva

The joy of both is how freeing they are onstage

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 19, 2014

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This technique in this book is very similar to David Mamet's non-technique. The joy of both is how freeing they are onstage, the text of the play becomes like the net below you and the words and your fellow actors are all together in a high-flying trapeze game. It works even if you don't have any text -- in an improv situation for instance. It's hard to describe, actually, but it makes what could be a dead process come alive every night... and can scare the hell out of everyone around you if they don't understand what is going on. A lot of actors like the old way -- hit your marks, say the word, cock the eyebrow, turn here, pause...curtain. But if you use this technique, and play for the life-or-death stakes that Donnellan and Mamet espouse, well, you'll never be the same again. I highly recommend this book, it is easy to read and understand, but it deals with a highly sophisticated concept that, properly applied, will propel the actor right up off the high bar.

4 people found this helpful

John

Very convoluted and unclear overall.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

Looking at the other reviews I was really looking forward to reading this. By now I have read quite a few books on the method of acting and was open to everything this one could teach me, but I found it simply confusing, convoluted, and some-what pretentious.

According to Declan Donnellan, the "target" is the objective of the character in that specific moment, or something that the character places all of their focus and energy towards - but the catch is that if you think about the "target" then you have failed, as apparently you can't be truly focused on the target as a specific thing, but he also claims that the "target" is something that is ever changing and is never static, thus your focus must constantly be moving with it, yet you can't know where the "target" is moving, because if you did then you would lose focus, and thus according to Declan, lose sight of the "target" all together. Confused? Me too.

His acting method plays a complete 'Catch 22' on itself. To be a good actor you must apparently focus on the target, but the target is ever changing and moving - so if you ever identify the target, it means you have ultimately lost sight of the target. What a load of convoluted rubbish.

I put this book down half-way-through. Stick to Michael Chekhov if you are looking for inspiration and an actually worthy method of acting.

2 people found this helpful

OpenToNewIdeas

Useful for non-actors

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 19, 2013

Verified Purchase

I'm a teacher, nothing to do with acting, but I saw the book at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, bought it, loved it, and bought another online for a friend, also a teacher.

I was seduced by the blurb, and can now say it's true: "[It] is no more for actors only than The Art of War is reserved for warriors..."

When I'm teaching, I try to listen to the student, find gaps in their knowledge and work from there, rather than having a set agenda for a lesson, or even a course right from the start. This book resonated with this approach, and I got a lot from it, despite not thinking of using it for acting. I want to read it again, which is a good sign.

9 people found this helpful

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5 star		79%
4 star		11%
3 star		5%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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The Actor and the Target

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The Actor and the Target

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The Actor and the Target

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