Playing for Real in Max Stafford-Clark's 'Talking to Terrorists'

TY - JOUR

T1 - Playing for Real in Max Stafford-Clark's 'Talking to Terrorists'

AU - Cantrell, Tom

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - This article explores acting processes in Max Stafford-Clark’s production of Robin Soans’ verbatim play, Talking to Terrorists (2005). With reference to new interview material with cast, writer and director, I interrogate the particular demands of playing a real person in a production in which the cast were involved in the play’s research. In two research periods and in rehearsals, many of the actors interviewed the individual they played, and these meetings provided material for the script. Following the cast’s focus, this article investigates preparatory and rehearsal processes. Using Jean Benedetti’s re-translation of Stanislavski’s work (An Actor’s Work, 2008 and An Actor’s Work on a Role, 2010), I put the actor’s Stanislavski-inspired vocabulary under the microscope to establish whether his work provides an appropriate terminology to illuminate these processes. This article highlights some of the challenges of portraying a real person, and also identifies the negotiations and tensions between the actors’ preparation and the director’s own working methods. My analysis of the actors’ testimony also suggests why acting processes have been overlooked despite the surge of research into verbatim theatre.

AB - This article explores acting processes in Max Stafford-Clark’s production of Robin Soans’ verbatim play, Talking to Terrorists (2005). With reference to new interview material with cast, writer and director, I interrogate the particular demands of playing a real person in a production in which the cast were involved in the play’s research. In two research periods and in rehearsals, many of the actors interviewed the individual they played, and these meetings provided material for the script. Following the cast’s focus, this article investigates preparatory and rehearsal processes. Using Jean Benedetti’s re-translation of Stanislavski’s work (An Actor’s Work, 2008 and An Actor’s Work on a Role, 2010), I put the actor’s Stanislavski-inspired vocabulary under the microscope to establish whether his work provides an appropriate terminology to illuminate these processes. This article highlights some of the challenges of portraying a real person, and also identifies the negotiations and tensions between the actors’ preparation and the director’s own working methods. My analysis of the actors’ testimony also suggests why acting processes have been overlooked despite the surge of research into verbatim theatre.

U2 - 10.1386/stap.31.2.167_1

DO - 10.1386/stap.31.2.167_1

M3 - Article

SN - 1753-6421

VL - 31

SP - 167

EP - 180

JO - Studies in Theatre and Performance

JF - Studies in Theatre and Performance

IS - 2

ER -