The Theatre Royal Haymarket has had some enormous stars of the dramatic industry host events at the Theatre Royal Haymarket called ‘Masterclasses’ some of which are; Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman and Bill Nighy. However, very few have been as impressive and interesting as Patrick Stewart, who recently held a Masterclass on is career in Film, TV, and Stage, He is celebrating his 50th anniversary in professional acting which not many people achieve and is a huge milestone in a career that not many people attain.
The Moment he walked on stage everyone felt a sense of awe and disbelief that one of the best known names of Theatre and TV was on a stage in front of them. He immediately, in the first 30 seconds made everyone feel relaxed and comfortable; he appeared charismatic, funny and laid back allowing everyone to act and think the same way. Patrick Stewart was a prime example of a struggling after leaving drama school with no job, no agent and no contracts what so ever he was offered a role in a play at the Theatre Royal Lincoln , in ‘Treasure Island’ as “Morgan (a pirate)” it found him happier than he’ll ever be on stage, as it took him from a jobless life into a career of drama. “For someone who was looking at the death of his career, it was a life belt, which I grabbed at”. After this lucky break he accomplished his ambition to be in monthly rep at Bristol where he had gone to drama school from there he went on to get his most significant job after being at the Lincoln, to be accepted into the Royal Shakespeare company, which he truly enjoyed, and did for 14 years, “The Royal Shakespeare company gave me everything I ever wanted as an Actor, great plays, world class Directors and World class Actors to work with”.
After this long period of his career with the same company, he decided to travel to America to further his knowledge of the profession in another country, whilst in America he was cast in one of the biggest American TV series’ of all time, ‘Star Trek: The next Generation’, his stay in America lasted for 17 years. When he had finished his work in America he came back to the UK and was out of work for 6 months, until a producer called Duncan Weldon offered him a role in a West end play called ‘The Master Builder’. “That began what has been the happiest and most creative 5 or 6 years of my life”. He believed his acting on the stage was the grandest most prestigious thing he had done. All He’d ever hoped for was to work hard enough to earn a living, and his hard work has made him one of the most renowned American TV actors and one of the most recognizable West end Actors as well.
The two main insights he shared were;
1. “it’s all a matter of truth”
“ in order communicate the truth your technique needs to be adjusted so the kind of truth we attempt to communicate here every night is one that is conditioned by the fact that there are 800-1000 sitting out here that there are some further away from the stage than others, maybe the text and ideas are too complicated, so the consciousness of technically communicating has to be broadened ”
2. “Film Acting is about thinking rather than Acting”
“ a camera photographs thoughts, and the kind of film acting that most interests me is ‘thoughtful’ film acting, where there is not a sense ‘Performance’
-Written by Luke Briggs
