Sophie Fiennes’ fascinating documentary goes behind the scenes of an acting workshop.

by MANSEL STIMPSON

Documentary films abound these days but this venture by Sophie Fiennes offers an experience quite unlike any that I have had before. Acting is a record of a workshop held by the theatre company Cheek by Jowl and it was filmed in London in 2021 in a building known as Twyford Mansion which is a derelict manor house. It is there that for close on two and a half hours we observe eight actors acting out speeches from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The extracts studied all involve Macbeth himself or Lady Macbeth or the two of them together rather than any other characters and, while not always coming up in chronological order, they give a strong sense of the play’s development. In this set-up each role is attempted by four players and the session is held by the two founders of Cheek by Jowl Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod with Declan Donnellan very much taking the lead in this. His perceptions about the characters and their motivations and about acting in general feature strongly. At the same time, it is clear that he is encouraging each of the actors to find their own way of expressing the part and, rather than being dictatorially assertive, he frequently qualifies his advice by asking if it makes any sense.

Since Acting is a long documentary without a voice-over commentator, it is hardly surprising that it has been compared with the work of that great documentarist the late Frederick Wiseman. However, the film is very much its own thing. Sophie Fiennes is the photographer and a producer too in addition to being the director and her approach is arguably not quite as straightforward as it initially seems. Throughout the film we observe the workshop through its various phases from introductory exercises onwards but visual touches enhance the effect. If actors have to consider where breaths should come when speaking their lines, so too Fiennes provides viewers with opportunities to catch their breath by inserting a number of brief pauses between the scenes of instruction. She does this by offering views of the house both interior and exterior and of its grounds. More significant is the fact that the bare walls of this old building with its rooms and corridors are emphasised enough for them to seem to reflect the setting of the play itself despite the lack of props and of the costumes which the actors would don for a stage performance. There is certainly no music score, but the film does occasionally add effective extracts from Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony chosen to fit the tone of Macbeth. Mood is further built up when it comes to inserting from time to time into the general colour footage atmospheric images of the setting itself starkly shot in black-and-white.

On one level Acting fascinates simply by showing the general public what a workshop for actors is like. It may be, of course, that Donnellan's approach differs from that of other directors and he certainly expresses his personal views regarding what is required from an actor speaking a text written by Shakespeare. Provocatively he suggests that making the meaning of his lines clear may not be vital and, when it comes to a player seeking to find the truth, he questions the very concept by asking whose truth that is. Nevertheless, all the questions that come up - whether it be what words to emphasise, what emotions are being expressed or hidden or what the intention is behind a particular exchange - are all genuinely fascinating. Never having acted myself, I am left uncertain as to how different an actual rehearsal would be from the exploration undertaken in a workshop such as this. While the eight actors were all unknown to me (their names appear in the credits below) they do appear to have established careers but directing a star name would doubtless be very different. In any case the notion of a workshop does in itself suggest that the purpose of those who attend it is specifically to learn from the instruction.

Inevitably the question arises of how well this long documentary sustains its length and for the most part I think that it succeeds. That is not to say, however, that it might not have been better to shorten it a little and, in so far as the speeches heard further what happens between the Macbeths (lots of duologues and on occasion a virtual soliloquy), the late section relating to Banquo and featuring only Macbeth himself might have been better omitted. But for the most part one is undoubtedly held aided by the fact that even those less familiar with the play are almost bound to have come across many of the speeches featured or at the very least phrases from them. There is interest too in having many extracts played out by several pairs of actors so that one can compare the contrasts in approach and delivery. Indeed, interesting as the instructors and the actors are, the most striking feature of Acting is the way in which it spotlights the richness of Shakespeare's text. Rather than one reading or another coming across as the right way to deliver it, one realises how readily the words which Shakespeare has given to the actors provide a variety of opportunities as to how to deliver them validly and effectively. By its very nature Acting may not be a film to appeal to everyone but those who are intrigued by the notion of it are unlikely to be disappointed.

Featuring Grace Andrews, David Burnett, Amber James, Orlando James, Sophie Khan Levy, Jonathan Livingstone, Ekow Quartey, Hannah Young, Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod.

Dir Sophie Fiennes, Pro Martin Rosenbaum, Sophie Fiennes and Shani Hinton, Ph Sophie Fiennes, Ed Sophie Fiennes.

Cheek By Jowl Theatre Company/Lone Star Productions/Amoeba Film-Sovereign Film Distributors.
145 mins. UK. 2024. US Rel: 10 April 2026. UK Rel: 5 June 2026. Cert. 15.

Acting

Koln 75