Truth
Personas, Needs, and Flaws in The Art of Building Actors and Creating Characters
- 301 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Stanislavski, Strasberg, Meisner, Adler, Berghoff, Hagen, Mamet... now Batson. Nicole Kidman approached her role in The Hours as a creative collaboration, understanding that portraying Virginia Woolf required a shared truth. Enter acting "alchemist" Susan Batson, whose process equipped Kidman to discover that truth, refining her performance from within, ultimately earning her an Oscar®. In TRUTH, Batson distills her extensive experience as an actor, teacher, and coach into a step-by-step guide for character creation, from the first read-through to the final performance. She debunks a century of myths surrounding "method acting," identifying the key elements of Need, Public Persona, and Tragic Flaw that connect the actor to their character. Need represents the unfulfilled desire hidden by the character's Public Persona, while Tragic Flaw emerges when the Need and Public Persona collide. TRUTH illustrates how understanding these principles leads to the most authentic performances. This book is essential for beginning actors, a wake-up call for seasoned performers, and a vital reference for writers, revealing the inner workings of storytelling and the creation of vivid, three-dimensional characters.