"Acting is not about dressing up. Acting is about stripping bare. The whole essence of learning lines is to forget them so you can make them sound like you thought of them that instant"
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Jackson’s jab at “dressing up” goes after the most flattering misunderstanding of acting: the idea that performance is mostly costume, accent, and a tasteful amount of pretending. She flips it into something closer to exposure. “Stripping bare” isn’t just emotional nudity for its own sake; it’s a demand for risk. Great acting, in her view, isn’t additive. It’s subtractive. You shave off vanity, technique that calls attention to itself, and the protective layer of “character” as camouflage until what’s left feels uncomfortably human.
The line about memorization is the real craft note, and it’s sneakier than it looks. Learning lines isn’t a rehearsal-room chore; it’s the prerequisite for spontaneity. The paradox - work so hard you can “forget” the work - points to the performance ideal audiences reward: presence. If the viewer can see the gears turning (“Ah yes, the monologue”), the spell breaks. If the text lands like an impulse, it reads as truth, even though it’s engineered.
Subtextually, she’s also policing the difference between control and aliveness. The actor must be disciplined enough to hit marks and intentions, then reckless enough to let the moment feel newly minted. That tension fits Jackson’s own reputation: rigor, intelligence, no patience for theatrical froufrou. It’s an ethic that treats acting less as decoration and more as an argument with yourself in public, executed with enough technique that it looks like none at all.
The line about memorization is the real craft note, and it’s sneakier than it looks. Learning lines isn’t a rehearsal-room chore; it’s the prerequisite for spontaneity. The paradox - work so hard you can “forget” the work - points to the performance ideal audiences reward: presence. If the viewer can see the gears turning (“Ah yes, the monologue”), the spell breaks. If the text lands like an impulse, it reads as truth, even though it’s engineered.
Subtextually, she’s also policing the difference between control and aliveness. The actor must be disciplined enough to hit marks and intentions, then reckless enough to let the moment feel newly minted. That tension fits Jackson’s own reputation: rigor, intelligence, no patience for theatrical froufrou. It’s an ethic that treats acting less as decoration and more as an argument with yourself in public, executed with enough technique that it looks like none at all.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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