How To Stop Acting

Harold Guskin is an Acting Doctor whose clients include David Suchet, Glenn Close, James Gandolfini, Bridget Fonda, and dozens more. In How To Stop Acting, he reveals the insights and techniques that have worked wonders for beginners as well as stars.

Instead of yet another 'method', Guskin offers a strategy based on a radically simple and refreshing idea: that the actor’s work is not to 'create a character' but rather to be continually, personally responsive to the text, wherever his impulse takes him, from the first read-through to the final performance. From this credo derives an entirely new perspective on auditioning and the challenge of developing a role and keeping it fresh, even over hundreds of performances. Drawing on examples from his clients’ work and his own, Guskin presents acting as a constantly evolving exploration rather than as a progression toward a fixed goal. He also offers sound and original advice on adapting to the particular demands of television and film, playing difficult emotional scenes, tackling Shakespearean and other great roles.

"The Great Guskin" - John Lahr, The New Yorker

Reading Harold Guskin’s book How To Stop Acting was like someone slowly removing handcuffs that have been on for a very long time. A method of working was given to me at drama school and with a few variations, here and there, has served me well for thirty-five years. More recently, however, I wanted to be free of 'a way' of working and Harold’s approach to acting was the much-needed key to the freedom that I wanted. I was influenced by Stanislavsky and Method acting, often feeling guilty if I failed to use them in the studying of my script and in the development of a character! Applying Harold’s How To Stop Acting has allowed me to work much more freely and instinctively and therefore more truthfully and being truthful has always been, for me, the ultimate goal. Thank you, Harold!

David Suchet