Acting Book Review - The Prophet

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran is a collection of teachings about life that a wondering stranger delivers to a town. While this may sound exceptionally mysterious, it is more or less a collection of life lessons that can be used in any facet of this life.The list of observations and teachings range from everything from love to death to work to children. These simple truths unveil the complexity of human existence and the fact that it is rife with seemingly connected opposing forces. None is better represented than when the stranger says that your joy is your sorrow unmasked. Another is that to be the most happy in love one must also be able to be the most hurt.While these teachings, at first glance, may fall upon an actor's blind eyes, they are totally applicable to the dramatic process. For instance, in the idea of bringing a villain to life as a character, the villain would not necessarily see themselves as a villain. Rather, they might see themselves as their own hero on their own journey to make the world into what they see it needing. Think of Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker in The Dark Night or Al Pacino's Tony Montana in Scarface. One cannot help but to watch these characters.It is thinking like this that will allow an actor to assume a role and adopt a multidimensional perspective when dealing with his characters. Aside from the artistic possibilities that The Prophet offers, it is a pretty handy life manual. dr seuss cat in hat book