When acting becomes abuse: problems with playing the ‘part’ of the actor

Abstract

In January 2018, New Zealand actor Rene Naufahu, best known for his role on a long-running soap opera, was sentenced for a series of indecent assaults on young women during his one-on-one acting classes. After initially denying the charges and painting his accusers as liars, he plead guilty but with the explanation that his actions were a result of his ‘professional passion for the art of acting’ rather than a deliberate abuse of power. In considering Naufahu’s case I do not wish to re-litigate the evidence or even focus on Naufahu himself particularly, but on the way in which his actions and the actions of other male actors recently accused of sexual abuses are entangled in discourses about acting itself. Accusations against James Franco, for example, have also related to a pedagogical context and suggest an uncomfortable blurring of boundaries between teacher and student, acting and exploitation. The narrative in these situations is often thus: the actor is overtaken by the muse of the real, and thus cannot be held fully responsible for his actions; abuses are an unfortunate consequence of his deep commitment to his craft. Despite defending himself on the grounds of such commitment, I suggest that former soap star Naufahu’s actions are not misplaced impassioned performance, but a performance of acting itself – that is, the actor abused the ‘role’ of actor in order to exert power over his victims. This paper explores Naufahu’s case and other related examples in order to consider the gendering of discourses of acting. It broadly considers the legacies of ‘Method’ acting, and, building on the work of Rosemary Malague, examines how contemporary acting methodologies claims to the ‘real’ are bound up in particular ideologies of masculinity and femininity.