Renowned producer and director, Kwaw Ansah, has stated that acting is a profession that needs to be taken seriously.
According to him, actors these days forget that acting is not all about reciting lines but a craft.
“Acting is not something that has to be done just for the sake of doing it; it is a profession on its own and should be treated with all seriousness. During our time it was a different game, we ate, breathed acting and it was not just about reciting lines.
“As an actor, you have to live the lines you read because that is the only way your audience can feel the role you are playing,” he said during a conversation at this year’s Sanegbaa, a celebration of International Mother Language Day marked by UNESCO, which came off recently in Accra.
Kwaw Ansah continued that as an actor, one cannot take away the role of rehearsals.
“To be good at what you do as an actor, you cannot rule out rehearsals, you need practice to perfect that which you have been given,” he said.
However, Kwaw Ansah agreed that though acting is an innate talent, it can be learnt from school.
“Even though acting should be an inborn thing, there are people who develop it when they go to school. Even that you have to work to sharpen it. One way that one can perfect his or her gift is through apprenticeship. You can decide to work under someone who is very good for some time and gather experience.
“Like today, what we see is just shouting and insulting, no that is not what acting is about. There is a reason the microphones are there and movies are supposed to bring out the best in us and not insults.”
Kwaw Ansah is an award-winning filmmaker whose work includes Love Brewed in the African Pot in 1980 and Heritage Africa in 1989.
Other films he has worked on are Harvest at 17 (1994), Crossroads of People, Crossroads of Trade(1994) and The Golden Stool, the Soul of the Asantes (2000).
There is also The Good Old Days: The Love of AA(2010), The Good Old Days: Papa Lasisi's Good Bicycle (2011), The Good Old Days: Suffering to Lose (2012)and Praising The Lord Plus One (2013).