Irreverent Acting: A Bold New Statement on the Craft of Acting and Individual Talent

by Eric Morris

Book Overview

Eric believes that this book is the "craft bible," since it focuses entirely on the craft an actor must acquire in order to fulfill dramatic material. The book explores the seven major obligations related to material--time and place, relationship, emotional, character, thematic, historical, and subtextual--and from there goes on to define choices and explain how to use them to fulfill those obligations. The third element of the craft, the choice approaches,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962970921
• ISBN13: 9780962970924
• Release Date: June 1992
• Publisher: Ermor Enterprises
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover

For those considering an acting career this book is one you must own! It is one of several books Eric has written about our craft and you need to master this if you are going to be successful as an actor. There is no room for shortcuts if you want to develop your craft. Trust me as I have studied with Eric in Los Angeles for several years and I know first hand what this man teachings can done for you. Even though the book appears plain it is packed with instructions and experiences that will free your spirit and bring you to a point of connecting with your soul. After all, if you cannot touch your own heart while performing then how can you touch others? Eric is a true mentor to me and my life. Without his unwavering dedication to our art and craft we would all still be trying to figure out how to "do it". True, Adler, Meisner, etc, all believe in acting from a true place but only Eric Morris can teach you how to get there through his inventive technique of Obligation, Choice and Choice Approach. This book adds the fourth dimension...Irreverance! Use this process and you will see a dramatic change in your performances. As Eric once quoted me, "David, you are one of the few on the road to "being". Stay on your journey and the rewards will be fantastic!" So true Eric, so VERY true! "Thank you Eric for your unyielding passion to your craft. It has taken me places I never dreamed imaginable. I wish you taught classes in Chicago. You are terribly missed!"

Morris is a genius

This is the greatest book written by the greatest acting teacher of all time. The content is amazing and overwhelming to digest all at once. Irreverent acting is the actors Bible in my opinion. Eric is a genius.

Acting that makes sense...

I'll admit that at first glance Eric Morris's System can seem scary and misaligned. But I believe it to be a very misunderstood system. I too was skeptical in the beginning, but after studying this technique (with Eric, but mostly with Anthony Vincent Bova in NYC, Eric's protégé), and after seeing the difference from "acting" and what this Work creates, there's no way I'd ever go back to the "acting" form. Eric Morris teaches the actor how to react honestly and in the moment, including everything that's going on inside and out-the other actor, the props, the imagined objects that one might be working for-that impels you to "do" whatever the character is required to "do", but out of a real reaction, not just because you're doing it. I've studied Adler, Strasberg, Meisner, and with Robert Lewis. I've hashed through the process of verbs, actions, objectives, obstacles, and onward; and they're all good and dandy for figuring out what's going on in a script, what the characters are doing and why; but other than that, these techniques never helped me figure out HOW to make it real to ME... How to get to a place where I'm actually functioning from a real, organic, truthful state ... How to get to the point where I am "doing" all the script tells me to do, fulfilling the "actions," out of an honest REACTION to what's going on.... Not just "playing" as if I am; how, in essence, creating the realities of the character.... No matter where you go, all the great teachers (and actors) say the same thing, "Acting is reacting." Even the most used and cherished word in the actor's language, LISTENING, is about focusing outside of yourself and REACTING to what is there. This Work trains the actor to create the stimuli that will fulfill the demands of the piece, specifically, wholly, and with Truth. For the most part, plays and movies are imagined circumstances, and we as actors, have to create stimuli to react from, so we're not just faking, or indicating our performance. I'd rather watch two people have a relationship on film or on stage, than two actors reciting words, no matter how well they "act" it. If they don't believe it, I won't. This System trains you to create those stimuli and REACT to them honestly, fully and truthfully. A crucial part of Eric's System is based on Instrumental Work, which is the process of identifying blocks and fears and tensions to expression and, one-by-one, through the use of hundreds of exercises, eliminating them. It's really about self-awareness-learning about yourself and how you function, so you can "get out of your way" and function truthfully on stage or film and get to where you need to get to in a scene. I think this is the aim of every method, but I feel that this System is the only one to address the issues of the actor on a personal level. If I'm tense and depressed (in real life; me the actor), I'm not going to be able to REACT truthfully in a scene where the character has just won the lottery and is jum

One of the best books on acting ever written.

Once, in Eric Morris' Acting class, I mistakenly referred to this book as Irrelevant Acting. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is one of the best books on acting ever!The exercises and work in this book have enhanced my acting tremendously, given me a way of working that is unmatched by any other acting book I've ever come accross (and I've read a ton of em) and has made me a powerful teacher and director in my own right.It explains Eric's Technique of Freeing the Instrument (Explained in great detail in his No Acting Please which should be read prior to this book.) It explains a new way of looking at material and personally connecting it to the actor through choices and choice approaches. It truly helps make the actor an artist in that he creates and is truly using himself.If you utilize this work and combine it with some common sense of your own (if you don't combine it with some common sense--some of it can get you into trouble) your acting will take on a new dimension; you will be more open as an actor artist and human being.You will learn how to free and tap into your emotions. How to make personal choices for your material. How to make Choice approaches or tools to connect you to the work and more! Read this book. Do the exercises. I can't recommend it enough.Do read No Acting Please first and follow it with this amazing masterpiece.