In the movie The Producers (now a musical), Gene Wilder accuses Zero Mostel of treating actors like animals. ‘Have you ever seen an actor eat?’ is Mostel’s pithy reply. There is a truth buried in this joke: eating can be important to actors in a profession where much time can be spent between jobs, ‘resting’, as it is euphemistically called.
Every year, at least 150 students graduate from drama schools around Australia. Simon Phillips, one of the directors interviewed by Adam Macaulay, estimates that only one in ten has any prospect of working consistently as an actor. But these students – and those who might be hoping to join them – are clearly the market Don’t Tell Me, Show Me is aimed at. I suspect that they might find reading this book a chastening experience.
Don’t Tell Me, Show Me: Directors talk about acting by Adam Macaulay
Currency Press, $29.95 pb, 223 pp
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