A Challenge for the Actor Book

I think what Uta Hagen had to say here could have been said in an essay rather than a 300-page book. And from what other actors have told me, Hagen already said much of this in Respect for Acting anyway, but better. Regardless, I do not think I will be reading Hagen's other work, because I'm pretty sure I already understand her gist.

I'm sure Hagen is a great actress, and a great person. The respect she has for the theatre is admirable, and I appreciate that she tries to get actors to push themselves beyond rote, formulaic actions and representations of emotion.

However, I take issue with this book for a few reasons. First, Hagen is a serious snob. She bitches and moans continuously about 'sell-outs', people who do television or film work or even commercial theatre, because they are in it for the money and not the oh-so-important CRAFT. Well, Uta, not everyone can make a living without doing commercial work. Along the same lines, I dislike Uta's view that an actor must dedicate his ENTIRE LIFE and every waking moment to the art; is it to be assumed then, that those acting recreationally can never excel?

The exercises in this, too, seem like common sense to me - "If a cup needs to be hot, you should pretend that it is hot!" Well, Uta, thanks for blowing my mind on that front. I also appreciate your 5,000 examples of "ENDOWING OBJECTS" with characteristics, because the concept was REALLY tough for me to understand the first time.

I think, ultimately, that Hagen turns the art of acting into too much of a thinking game. She claims that acting does not come naturally to anyone, but I disagree - I think those with strong powers of perception and the ability to imitate have no need for many of her exercises, since accurate and specific imitations come to them without extra effort. Maybe this book would be helpful with truly atrocious actors, people that never pay attention to other people, but I think for anyone with a real shot at becoming a great actor, this stuff should inherently be a part of what they do, since it's incredibly BASIC. I don't mean to rag on Uta so hard, but I feel like I read 300 pages thinking, "Tell me something I don't know."