Can't resist the urge to act

Tim Hardy has testosterone to thank for getting his teenage mind interested in acting. After years spent studying in a boy’s school, getting to act in a play with girls sounded fantastic.

But sincere devotion is now reason enough for Tim Hardy – actor, director and faculty member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts – who came to share advice and wisdom to IU students Thursday at the Wells-Metz Theatre.

“He provides the insights of an actor who has had many experiences,” said Nichole Pena, a graduate student from IU-Purdue University Indianapolis. “Hardy genuinely wants to bring out (the) talents of actors.”

Being a man of prominence within the theater world, Hardy has directed and performed in productions across the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and the United States. He is currently on the staff at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. His onstage performances include “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Macbeth,” “Parade,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “Guys and Dolls.”

Besides onstage acclaim, Hardy has experience behind the scenes. On a whim, Hardy agreed to direct the adventurous play “The Royal Hunt of the Sun” at the University of Michigan.

This was not the only time throughout his career that Hardy was surprised with a position. At one point, Hardy was hesitant when asked to play a leading role in “A Winter’s Tale” while he was teaching students in two-hour seminar segments during the day.

Despite his original timidity and dependence handling foreign roles, Hardy said, “Do not set your parameters because you don’t know until you challenge yourself.”

“Where you most resist is probably where you should go,” Hardy said, referring to his random invitation to a famous music festival in Vienna to sing opera.

Hardy said acting has no limitations as long as actors center themselves. When drama relies solely on a theory of opinion, he said, anything goes.

Thursday at the Wells-Metz, Hardy asked attendees, “What is acting?” One responded, “to live truthfully in imaginary circumstances.”

After interactive discussion, Hardy confronted his own question with the answer “to make a true marriage between disparate things: the text and me.”

Hardy provided attendees with advice about the strategies of being a successful actor. Starting from the audition, Hardy said one should listen and be oneself by letting the work speak without force.

In this sense, Hardy said acting is not only for “Hello darling!” types, as he put it, but it’s the flexibility to mold into and relate to a character from the inside out.

Currently, Hardy is performing a piece called “Galileo,” which was pitched by professor Terri Bourus, the director of the Center For the Study of Early Modern Drama at IUPUI.

As the sole performer in “Galileo,” Hardy is presenting the battle between science and faith. Hardy said the most difficult part of acting alone is the pressure because of the lack of letup.

Although Hardy is lecturing on several college campuses about “Reinventing Shakespeare for the 21st Century: Keeping the Bard Relevant on Stage, on Page, and in Film,” Hardy jokingly said he didn’t get Shakespeare, but if anyone else discovered this secret, he would be sent to the Tower of London.

At 70, Hardy continues acting to keep the energy alive.

“The animal I am, the addict that I am. I need to act,” Hardy said.