Perforganism · 16 March 2002
Actors’ conversation, being unfettered and life-affirming, will usually cause other diners to fall silent, ashamed of their bourgeois values and enchanted by the exuberance of the ‘theatre folk’. A kindly act is to draw them into your group by waving or going over to their tables, kneeling down before them and begging forgiveness in extravagant language. Try to sing the theme tunes from obscure Seventies TV shows, quote from other plays, and – of course – lots and lots of regional accents and silly voices.
—from I, An Actor by Nicholas Craig
It’s churlish to dwell on all that can go wrong with the professional actor. True, some aren’t completely annoying to be in the same room with, and some do good work. And you have to admire the tenacity to remain in a profession wherein rejection and slamming criticism are just the beginning. Gaping insecurity, white-hot neediness, gelatin bravado – there are worse characteristics to have.
All of which are savagely thrashed in a most welcome new edition of I, An Actor by ‘Nicholas Craig’, the alter ego of Nigel Planer, whom you might recall as Neil the hippy on The Young Ones.
It is very, very funny.
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