Simply the Best!

And so the leviathan that was the X factor trundled onto its conclusion and last Saturday the best act was finally named. I was quite pleased that Matt was the winner. Rebecca was a little too like a sort of downmarket mix of Alexandra Burke and Leona Lewis, and heaven knows what it would have said about the country if the charisma bypass that was “One Direction" had actually made it to the finishing line.

Of course in these instances there is actually no such thing as “best". It's a matter of taste. It's like acting. You can't ever say that one person is “the best". Mercifully for those of us who do it it's not something that can be measured. It's not quantitative. You and I can sit side-by-side in the same theatre on the same night and watch the same performance and look at the same actor-and I can think they're absolutely appalling, and you can think they're brilliant. We are both right. It's a matter of taste.

It's nice to be liked. It's very nice when people show their appreciation of your work and tell you how much they like you. The reasons they don't like you however might be out of your control and there is simply no point in worrying about them. It's a huge learning point in the work of being an actor to realise that you can't please all the people the time. Actors go up for job interviews–or “auditions"–several times a month. Most people go for possibly 5 to 10 job interviews in their life. You have to go in there and say “This is me. It might not be what you're looking for but it's the best me there is". It seems to work.

Strange then that this week the profession's journal “The Stage" decided to publish the results of a survey conducted to find out the greatest actor of all time! The unfortunate winner was the icon that is Dame Judi Dench. In typical Dame Judi style she commented “that's going to be quite difficult to live up to". She is of course right, and it really does seem a shame that The Stage has put her in this position. Neither Laurence Olivier, nor John Gielgud featured in the final top 10. They may not be actors of the here and now, but of their time they certainly were at the very very top of the tree, and it's ridiculous that they don't figure in the results. But then neither does David Garrick or Sarah Bernhardt. Of course there is no reason why they should as the voters in this ridiculous survey were not around to watch those actors or their performances.

It's laughable, but then so for many actors is “The Stage." It is an oft repeated remark in many dressing rooms around the country that three of the most useless things in the world are “the Pope's balls and a good notice in The Stage"!

It just seems to show a rather drastic misunderstanding of the business of acting asking people to vote on a rather immeasurable quality-talent.

It's good to acknowledge Dame Judi's current place at or very near the top of the current theatrical hierarchy. She and people of her generation will be the last actors at that type we see in Britain. Dame Judi is the product of the British theatrical repertory system whereafter leaving drama school actors could go to theatres in provincial towns all over the country, staying with the theatre companies there for a few months and doing several plays and learning their craft.

I myself have very happy memories of a seven-month stint at York Theatre Royal in the late 1970s, sharing a dressing room with the young Gary Oldman and playing everything from Shakespeare to pantomime. That opportunity is simply not available to young actors leaving drama school today. Some of them are plunged into the heady world of television within a few weeks of leaving, and just as quickly spat out when they cease to become flavour of the month. Television doesn't let you develop your craft, it simply requires you to do it to the best of your ability whilst the cameras rolling. You really only begin to learn once you're earning a pay packet, and the long rehearsal days of a theatre production can really test your metal. We stand in danger of having a generation of actors who can only play one part, and have never had a chance to find out what they can do.

One place that is doing its best to try and remedy the dearth of repertory theatres throughout the country is The Actors Centre in London. The it's a building that exists where actors young and old can meet, take classes in a variety of skills, and generally find out what's going on. Nowadays this is probably one of the few opportunities for young actors to actually extend their abilities. A vast number of greatly respected actors and actresses give classes at the centre in an enormous range of subjects and young actors who become members can sign up for these classes and learn from their more experienced peers.

It's an invaluable process for an actor. The chance to be able to make mistakes, to try things out, and generally just see what you can do with a safety net surrounding you i.e. no audience, is essential in these hard times.

If that sounds a little bit like a commercial, then I'm afraid it is. I'm a board member of The Actors Centre like many other institutions at the moment it's very hard-pressed financially. We are looking to find 10 sponsors who might be able to commit to £1000 a year to become a member of the artistic directors circle. If you know anybody, or indeed if you feel you could do that yourself, I'm the only too thrilled to hear from you.

Acting gives many people joy. From the thousands who participate in amateur dramatics across the country, to the hundreds of thousands who pour into theatres here in London and those that remain across the country for a night at the theatre. A night that can take you away from the humdrum and the everyday. A night that will help you forget the revolting students, or that may even provide enlightenment about them.

It's not about finding the best . It's about providing an environment in which the best can flourish.

After all, it's one of the few things we are still best at in the world. British actors are sought after all over the globe, whether it's to play villains in Hollywood blockbusters, or Bollywood biopics, an English actor guarantees a touch of class.

We are simply the best.