WRITERS & ACTORS - A HALF SERIOUS, HALF BORING REFLECTION ON WHY I AM FASCINATED BY THEM

Richard Armitage as John Proctor in The Crucible

There are two kinds of people I am particularly fascinated by, writers and actors. Not for the glamour surrounding them. In fact, I'm not interested in the extremely popular ones, the very famous. Honestly, I'm more attracted to their jobs, than to their popularity or personal life. I consider good acting and good writing the result of meticulous craftsmanship, artistry and, only rarely, art. I'm particularly drawn to these two categories of people, widely known or not,  since their professions are somewhat magical to me. 
They've got the power to create life, to give life through words.

I know actors use their whole bodies, so , let's say, mostly through words. Most of an actor's job is based on words, and they are very often essential to the achievement of the main goal: a successful performance. 

Meeting author Fabio Stassi 

Writers and actors create life through words, they give life to characters, and characters do not only represent people, they are people once the actors lend them their bodies and voices.

I love to think  that , more than stories, actors and writers create personae (persons in Latin, characters in English)  and they,  the characters, interacting, contribute their story. They are not mere fiction, they are not unreal. They live,  and they live on long in certain cases,  in our minds and hearts. Longer than the human being who created them. 

As for actors, once they are in a movie, for instance,  they never actually die. The go on living in their characters, in those frames. They go on giving them life and voice. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see ... in Shakespeare's words.

ACTING AND ... CASTING THE RUNES - INTERVIEW WITH ANTONIA & NOEL BYRNE, THE BOX TALE SOUP

My fascination with the theatre and the acting job brings me to virtually meet interesting, fascinating people from time to time and I can't resist the temptation to discover more about their world. This is why I have invited Antonia and Noel Byrne, The Box Tale Soup, to tell us about their experience and everyday life as actors. Their new show, Casting the Runes, is going to debut soon and they are really busy with the rehearsals. They have accepted anyway to answer my questions and I thank them heartily. 

What is the history of your Box Tale Soup Productions?

Antonia - Noel and I met performing together in 2009 (we were playing Romeo and Juliet!) and after a while doing freelance acting work for theatre and television, we realised what we really wanted to do was make our own theatre. We decided, first of all, that we wanted our shows to be extremely portable, so that we might turn up almost anywhere and be able to perform. The first item we purchased, therefore, was a vintage trunk (seen in Northanger Abbey) and we decided that all the props, costume and set we used in the show had to fit inside it. We chose Northanger Abbey, as it's one of Antonia's favourites, and then everything else, including the decision to use puppets, flowed on from there. We now have three productions, Northanger Abbey, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and our newest, Casting the Runes.