Brian Timoney

[pg]

Olivia Coleman? I think she's tremendous. I watched Tyrannosaur the other night [gulp].

Welshmum, her comment reminds me of this bit from "Extras"

"How do I act so well?"
http://www.myspace.com/video/brad/sir-i ... as/3147733

See, it's easy!

[Welsh Mum]

Yes Olivia Coleman - she is amazing, loved her comment (reminds me a bit of my DD's views ) also shared by Judi Dench

Tyrannosaur is a very good film, but a hard one to watch if you see what I mean. Excellent performances in it though.

[Rachel_M]

Olivia Coleman? I think she's tremendous. I watched Tyrannosaur the other night [gulp].

Welshmum, her comment reminds me of this bit from "Extras"

"How do I act so well?"
http://www.myspace.com/video/brad/sir-i ... as/3147733

See, it's easy!

Love that, thanks for sharing pg!

[TalyaB]

Excellent. Thanks for sharing.

[Tanyfaye]

If you want to study method then its where you should go

I think that's a bit of a sweeping statement! Most drama schools cover the things that Brian Timoney talks about, but they give you other tools too - and I think having a choice of tools is going to be more useful to you in the profession: to have a toolbox you can turn to for every eventuality.

does laurence olivier's advice to dustin hoffman come to mind?

I meant if you want to just study method... When you go to lee strasberg all you study is method. You can go to uni and study other types of acting ... Which is what I want to do, I was just stating that in the uk there are not hat many good places to study method unlike America. Most Oscar winners are method actors... Now that is saying something...

[Tanyfaye]

If you want to study method then its where you should go

I think that's a bit of a sweeping statement! Most drama schools cover the things that Brian Timoney talks about, but they give you other tools too - and I think having a choice of tools is going to be more useful to you in the profession: to have a toolbox you can turn to for every eventuality. It would be a bit daft employing "method" for panto.
I like Samster's description (from the stagetalk thread I linked to) of it being a "mixing desk". "sometimes you need to turn up playing the subtext and turn down the mask and so on."

Also, there are numerous ways to meet and work with Casting Directors (let's face it, most of them seem to be jumping on the bandwagon of "paid for" workshops these days) and if you go to drama school then CDs will come in to the school to watch students - and you will be taught by industry professionals (lots of the teachers still work "in the industry").

I'm glad you got a lot out of it but I do think it's very expensive for what it is and I really loathe the man's marketing techniques.

Before you set off for the States, can I recommend you think a bit about what your plan is afterwards? Have you found out about working as an actor in the States? This is a very difficult and expensive thing for Britons to do. If you are planning to come back here to work then you might need to think about how you are going to interest British agents etc.

I imagine studying in the States would be great and I'm sure you would learn a lot of useful things. I may come across as anti US training and that's really not what I want to do as I know a number of actors who have studied there and gained a lot from it. I also know that they have had to scrabble just as hard to interest agents and CDs back here. Working in the States - that's a different thing entirely and really needs lots of research so that you don't waste time, money and ambition that might be better invested elsewhere.

I appreciate (honestly! ) you posting on the forum and giving your experience but I worry a little bit that you may have been given some inaccurate perceptions about the industry and I never can understand why people get so excited about meeting Hollywood Casting Directors since the likelihood of most British actors working in Hollywood is really, really remote! (although, of course, Dan Hubbard casts all sorts of things and is a really great person to meet, as is Sarah Hughes).

Great podcast from Dan Hubbard here: http://www.spotlight.com/news/archive/2 ... ctors.aspx

Oh and I don't plan to move to Hollywood, I'm not naive, I just wanted to study there for a year and maybe even get some essential networking done. Wouldn't move to America if I didn't have some good credits here, and an agent, I'm well aware of how hard the American market is to break into, but thanks.

[pg]

Oh and I don't plan to move to Hollywood, I'm not naive, I just wanted to study there for a year and maybe even get some essential networking done. Wouldn't move to America if I didn't have some good credits here, and an agent, I'm well aware of how hard the American market is to break into, but thanks.

I apologise if my post/advice seemed patronising. I'm glad you know how it works - a heck of a lot of people don't and the lure of "Hollywood" is often used in some rather dubious marketing.

Most Oscar winners are method actors... Now that is saying something...

I know that this is something that Brian Timoney emphasises in his marketing.

I think there needs to be some caution about what exactly you are extrapolating here. There are many Oscar winners who have studied method acting. It should also be noted that there are hundreds of thousands of actors who have studied method acting who are not Oscar winners. It's the actors who have won the Oscars - not the method and not the teachers.

There are not so many places to only study method acting in the UK because British Drama Schools (not Universities) have largely taken the view that for actors to be well prepared for the industry and the jobs that are likely to be available to them in the UK, they need to study more than this. The course I was on and the one my ds did covered many of the things taught by Brian Timoney.

I agree that the subjects/techniques covered on Brian Timoney's course may be very, very useful to an actor - especially for screen work. I believe that these very, very useful things are also taught elsewhere - possibly for less money?

I'd like to quote Samster's response from the stagetalk thread:

It looks like the 'secret' is the Lee Strasberg Method. The thing about drama schools is that most of them specialise in training for the stage and not film, so the statistic about however many Oscar winners are Method actors is a bit misplaced, what with Oscars being awarded to films. There are places that do short courses in different schools of method, and I think that Drama Centre primarily train actors in Stanislavskian approaches (though you may want to find out how much of their course is dedicated to this). From my own experiences we have touched on many different ways of working, in order to discover what works (and what doesn't work) for each individual actor.

The other thing to take on board is that on film the camera is closer on the actor than anyone in the front row of a theatre; one merely has to think through things and it reads in the cinema. On stage the people in the back row need to have the character's thoughts communicated to them too, which is where physical and vocal techniques learned at drama school come in. The danger with a pure method approach on stage is that the actor can become so involved in the emotions of the character that it is felt but not communicated to the audience.

On film you don't usually have the privilege of shooting scenes in chronological order, so one has to 'come up with the goods' on the day. In this case using sense memory to 'trigger' a very deep emotion, as a one off is understandable; on stage you have the events of the play leading up to this moment as your catalyst for emotion - one is experiencing it in real-time so the events of the play are a trigger.

The site attacks drama schools for being 'Victorian', but I think it's more a question of tradition: in the UK we have a strong theatre culture, and the US make really great films - they require different skills. I would also be wary of any training that guaranteed success in the industry: 'and you want to shortcut years of slow grind and frustration… then YOU are exactly the kind of future superstar I want'. So much of the selection process is down to looks and not necessarily ability - it's important to have a perspective on what the industry side is really like!

Most schools touch on Method at some point - it's just not usually seen as the one technique that will necessarily make you a better actor, especially on stage - it's more about finding what works for you from show to show and not limiting yourself.

All of the techniques advertised on Mr Timoney's website, such as animal studies, developing a character, etc were taught at my drama school - and most of the others. What concerns me about the site is the hard sell, and the promise of a 'golden ticket' to success. I think you really need to do some research before committing yourself to something as expensive at this. I personally view acting techniques as a mixing desk - sometimes you need to turn up playing the subtext and turn down the mask and so on.

Finally, Hamlet's advice to the players has many similarities to Stanislavsky and Co's theories! Drama schools aren't anti-Method - they just don't place it at the centre of their universe.

I know that many of the more extreme claims have now been taken off Brian Timoney's website but I still think Samster's summary is a useful one to anyone weighing up the pros and cons of various courses.

[Welsh Mum]

I would also say that Samsters views and experiences are similar to those on my DDs course at drama college (not uni). One thing my DD has had spelt out to her severeal times is that there is NO shortcut to success for the vast majority. They are told that hard slog may well be the way forward to them - not because of what style of training they have had but due to the many other vagaries of the profession. I think my DD and her classmates would be quite cynical of any course/person who suggested otherwise.