You are going to read an article about the actress Harriet Walter. For questions 8-15, cho

Acting minus the drama

Harriet Walter has written a fascinating book about her profession.

Benedicte Page reports.

It is not often that all experienced actor with a high public profile will sit down to answer in depth the ordinary theatregoer's questions: how do you put together a character which isn't your own？; what is it like to perform. the same play night after night'？; or simply, why do you do it？ Harriet Walter was prnmpted to write Other People's Shoes: Thoughts on Acting by a sense that many people's interest in theatre extended beyond the scope of entertainment chit-chat. "1 was asked very intelligent, probing questions by people who weren't in the profession, from taxi drivers to dinner-party hosts to people in shopping queues. It made me realise that people have an interest in what we do which goes beyond show- business gossip," she says.

Other People's' Shoes avoids insider gossip and, mostly, autobiography: "If events in my life had had a huge direct influence, l would have put them in, but they didn't," Harriet says, though she does explain how her parents' divorce was a factor in her careen But the focus of the book is to share—remarkably openly the inside experience of the stage and the rehearsal room, aiming to replace the lalse sense of mystery with a more realistic understanding and respect for the profession.

"There's a certain double edge to the publicity an actor can get in the newspapers: it gives you attention but, by giving it to you, simultaneously criticises you," Harriet says. "People ask you to talk about yourself and then say, 'Oh, actors are so self-centred.' And the 'sound- bite' variety of journalism, which touches on many things but never allows you to go into them in depth, leaves you with a sort of short hand which reinforces prejudices and myths."

Harriet's career' began in the 1970s and has included theatre performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company and television and film roles. She writes wittily about the embarrassments of the rehearsal room, as actors try out their half-formed ideas. And she is at pains to demystify the theatre: thc question "How do you do the same play every night？" is answered by a simple comparison with the familiar car journey you take every day, which presents a slightly different challenge each time. "I was trying to get everyone to understand it isn't line 42 this extraordinary mystery and you're not visitcd by some spiritual inspiration every night."

Harriet's own acting style. is to build up a character piccu by piece. She says that this process is not widely understood: "There's no intelligent vocabulary out there for discussing thc craft of building characters. Reviews of an actor's performance which appear in the newspapers are generally based on whethcr the reviewer likes the actors or not. It's not about whether they are being skilful or not, or how intelligent their choices are."

There remains something mysterious about slipping into "other people's shocs': "It's something like falling in love," Harriet says. "When you're in love with someone, you go in and out of separateness and togetherness. It's similar with acting and you can slip in and out of a character. Once a character has been built, it remains with you, at the end of a phone line, as it were, waiting for your call."

Harriet includes her early work in Other People's Shoes— "I wanted to separate myself from those who say, 'What an idiot I was, what a load of nonsense we all talked in those days!'; it wasn't all rubbish, and it has affected how I approach my work and my audienccs.' And she retains from those days her belief in the vital rol

A．was tired of answering people's questions about acting.

B．knew people liked to read about show business gossip.

C．wanted to entertain people through her writing.

D．wanted to satisfy people's curiosity about acting in the theatre.