Romeo & Romeo—What It Really Takes To Be A Good Actor
Last month I got to attend the Utah Shakespeare Festival. In fact I went several times. Living in Salt Lake City, USF is only a three-hour drive South, a mere jaunt considering you’re going to see world-class Shakespeare.
I got to see three of the Bard’s works—Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, and a stunning production of Coriolanus. Plus The Play That Goes Wrong, at which I laughed myself hoarse, and the American classic Raisin in the Sun.
There was a lot of great stuff there, but my two favorite actors were James Ryen who was glorious as a Friesan stallion playing Coriolanus and Ty Fanning whose Romeo was so exquisitely nuanced and specific I could not take my eyes off him. Every word he said was connected, he was truly listening, his intentions were clear, he had so many levels to his performance, going from the foppish, lovesick boy when under the spell of the never seen Rosalind at the beginning of the play to the tragic lover dying next to his true love at the end.
Ty also played Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which I did not get to see, but heard report from others that his work was riveting in that as well.
Earlier this year I saw another production of Romeo and Juliet—starring one of my students, Truman Christiansen as Romeo—in his High School Production. He was thrilled to be cast as he was a freshman, and it was a leading role. He did a fine job. His performance was maybe not as nuanced as Ty’s at USF, but Truman’s passion for acting shone through.
Interestingly enough Truman also got to see the R&J production at the festival this year. We talked about it later at one of our individual training sessions. He two was blown away by Ty’s performance. And Truman was lucky enough to attend one of the after-show lectures where the actors talked about their performances. Ty was there along with several other actors. At the end of the discussion the audience got to ask a few questions.
Truman raised his hand and was selected.
He directed his question to Ty and asked, “What does it really come down to? Being successful as an actor?”
Ty replied, “You have to be obsessed about it. About everything to do with acting. Learning the lines, training, getting representation, auditioning, prepping the role, performance. It has to mean everything to you and you have to be working at it constantly. Obsessively.”
Ty left the production of R&J before the end of the season as he was cast in another show, Frankenstein at Indiana Repertory Theatre. His understudy took over the role. Clearly his obsession is moving his career forward.
As for Truman, I’ve noticed a new level of dedication in his acting training. I think he’s listening to what Ty said. I think we all should.
And as a follow up, Truman was just cast as Edmond in his HS’s production of King Lear. Seems he’s following Ty’s path—on a smaller scale—at least for now.