In William Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It, the character Jaques has no job in the plot- he only provides wry comment on the others. Most of us have worked with people like this. Jacques is remembered for the iconic line, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players…”. If only it were that simple.
The fate of an actor is pretty much baked into the job description. Actors know exactly what they’re supposed to say (it’s written in the script) precisely where to go and what to do (from the stage directions), and even how they are expected to look and dress (thanks to makeup and wardrobe). All of this comes together under the auspices of a director, who fine-tunes every move. Their performance appraisal is both immediate (the audience) and long term (the box office).
Within the confines of this seemingly restricted world, there is plenty of room for skill, creativity, and experience. Sometimes props don’t work, other actors blow their lines, or even the most dependable technology goes awry. Veteran actors will grasp the overall mission of the performance and make seamless adjustments. As for the finer points to an actor’s job – to appreciate this, you need only compare a high school production of As You Like It to Michael Benthall’s version. Skill matters.
