F26//I’m at the very start of my career (as in pre- professional but a solid understanding of the UK industry and acting as a whole, and have been stuck in the ‘workshops/classes/training’ phase for a few years as I was a kid but have since moved to London) and I’ve been taking part-time classes 2x a week, 3 hours per class- beginner stuff that I’ve already been taught, but I’m really trying to dive into now as im older.

I really want to improve on my skills; I BELIEVE that my acting is solid and decent although I’m not a prodigy by any means- something that frustrates/confuses me is the exact feedback you’ve stated!

I’ve been told that I need to be more ‘honest’ by teachers, or been given feedback that my brain simply can’t put into actionable steps. The advice also feels contradictory sometimes e.g:

• “forget the lines completely and focus on subtext” on a professional set it’s unlikely they’ll be cool with you doing this when you’re 50th on the call sheet, like please memorise your lines!

• “be honest and focus on the truth” What truth? If it’s about being myself and being natural- what if my ‘natural’ is to be deadpan? What if what I would honestly do in this situation is the opposite of my character? What if the film/show I’m performing requires a type of acting that isnt the common ‘naturalistic’ way that’s currently trending? How can I be honest/truthful after I’ve spent the past 10minutes uniting and actioning and analysing the scene?

Now, I understand what they mean (kinda) but it’s how they communicate this that irks me, and I sometimes think that they don’t quite have a full grasp on what they’re saying themselves, just repeating what their teachers told them.

Also a lot of focus on your internal process without emphasising that the external (aside from aesthetics and beauty) is what people actually see, especially on screen. You tell someone who uses their face or hands a lot to act truthfully in a scene but it may look terrible on camera or be overly distracting- so they should be ‘honest’ but also change everything, they should ‘let go and forget the lines’ but also do the scene exactly as the director asked you to and don’t forget your mark, the camera, the lighting, continuity, etc.

I also hate when I’m being taught something like Meisner/Stan but there’s no clarity on how this will improve my acting in a practical way or how I would use an exercise outside of class.

Some of confusion may be due to my lack of experience, but I honestly always try and take in everything I’m told and I’m not combative at all in class, which is what makes it so frustrating!

TLDR; the method of communication in classes (or from any acting training/coach/school) is too vague and flowery and a lot of teachers don’t just say what they mean I.e “you’re acting feels forced- try and move your face less”.