I can’t stand a lot of British acting

While I love the series, the acting does often make me cringe

The following will be a bit of a rant. I’m kind of apologetic about it – but not completely.

I like to support our more homegrown media productions – be it films or television series. The UK does have a lot to offer. The thing is… sometimes the acting that appears on screen is just a bit too melodramatic or over the top for me. I prefer things a bit more naturalistic.

I’m sure some of you have watched series and thought that the acting taking place would be better suited to the stage than to the screen. As far as I can tell it has a lot to do with the kind of acting training that a lot of actors (male or female) are receiving in the various stage schools across the country. A lot of it is stage based, with (from what I’ve heard) naturalistic acting for the screen often frowned upon in the schools.

Sure, they may go over something like Stanislavski’s An Actor Prepares (what forms the basis of method acting) – but even this is still mainly translated towards giving a convincing performance on stage. The screen is a different beast.

Don’t get me wrong – there’s plenty of stuff made by UK production companies that features absolutely fine acting. It’s just…

Take the re-emergence of Doctor Who. Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant tended to be pretty naturalistic in their performances, but Matt Smith verges on the melodramatic all the time. Series like Skins always struck me as a bit over the top. To counter this though, despite is out there subject matter, series like The Misfits manages to keep a balance most of the time.

Yet, maybe I’m being too harsh on the actors of this fair land. Maybe I should be pointing fingers at the directors behind these films and series as well as the scriptwriters. Pointing fingers at scriptwriters who put a little too much exposition in and then directors who perhaps don’t do enough to elicit subtle performances from the actors they’re trying to direct.

Or maybe, just maybe, I’m the only one that has issues with the acting styles of filmed productions in this land and everyone else is okay with the melodrama. Hmmmmm…

---