Being an actor is the only thing I have always wanted to be.
There are so many reasons that come together to make the above statement true, and I will be exploring practically all of them as I continue trying to understand what it means to be human.
One thing I do know, and can say with a great deal of certainty, is that it’s not about the applause.
Applause is amazing, and I’m not going to pretend it isn’t gratifying and that it doesn’t feel good, but it’s not the reason I perform.
There is something about the connection between a performer and the audience the never leaves me with any doubt whatsoever that this is what I am made to do.
Acting the part of another being is where I feel most like myself, and as strange as that might sound, the very process of acting has brought me closer to an understanding of who I am and who we all are to each other than anything else I have ever done or attempted to do.
This clip from the 2011 film, Anonymous – which argues that all of the works attributed to William Shakespeare were actually written by Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford and not Shakespeare, himself- illustrates to perfection what great theater can actually produce in a moment.
This scene from the film- a moment from the play, “Henry V” – shows Henry rousing his troops in one of the greatest theatrical speeches ever written.
Watch how the audience responds to this actor in the most authentic and human way.
Watch what these words and how he says them move the audience to forget themselves and truly feel as if they are present with a long ago King of England and not some lowly actor in a wig and false armour.
What is that? Why does that happen?
I hope you will continue to join me on my quest to understand what that connection is and why it is so meaningful to our existence as human beings.
Thanks for joining me on this countdown journey, as we thrust ourselves headlong into this mysterious new year – 2021!
I wish you peace.
THE SCOTT LANGDON PROJECT 