The Actor’s Guide To Survival
Running time: 1 hour
Audio: StereoStarring: Jody Kamali, Vivian Taylor
Director: Mark Ashmore
ACTOR JODY KAMALI LOOKS at home on the stage, dishing out his best ironically-quasi-European accent as he recounts his character’s tale of waking up with a pretty Scandanavian lady.
He’s got almost as many shows in as many days as the Edinburgh festival – and thankfully, bagloads of cool-dudeness to get through it all.
Of course, there are still luvvies who insist after a performance that Jody’s show is still great as he fishes for reassurance but it’s all done with good humour and good vodka.
Jody: “I died.”
Supporters: “It was great… you had a crap audience”.
‘The Actor’s Guide…’ , a cross between raw performance footage and a behind-the-scenes documentary was released today: http://www.futureartists.co.uk/actorsguidetosurvival.php and is well worth a gander. It verges almost dangerously, yet innocently – but never self-consciously or awkwardly – between irony and a bunch of stories that actually are stranger than fiction.
There is a veritable checklist one must have before getting on with the Edinburgh Fringe festival it seems, such as having a wealth of honest buddies around you, like a lady called Dianne who will tell it’s all okay and knows when an audience is purposefully stiff-lipped and staunch – or if the show actually is crap.
The distance between the media coverage of the festival and the beauty of the weirdos who make up that coverage is referenced by cutaways to a lovely presenter exploring the fringes of the Royal Mile. Vivian Taylor goes walkabout and quite hilariously refers to a man as banana man.
“Banana boy? I’m dressed as a piece of toast!”
Essentially The Actors Guide To Survival is ironic. Summed up by Jody towards the end of the film by the “play hard, work hard ethic” all independnt actors need in order to make it, the film is a thoughtful look at what not being A-List is all about . So, maybe the title’s a tad misealding. Don’t expect a self-help guide for how to break into theatre. Rob, the techie/soundie/on board philosopher has got the whole scene down when he says: “You can’t take this too seriously, you don’t know what’s going to happen or when it’s going to end.”
The Actor’s Guide to Survival might best be retitled as the following: Watch A Comedy Actor Keep His Head Up And Get By Without A Fancy PR Agency When Confronted With A Stony Faced Audience At Prestigous Cultural Festival Even Though Everyone Else Is Nuts Anyway…
See. When you think about it, it really IS a guide to survival.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aRid_KhC4c&feature=player_embedded
Culturegloss. 