Method acting
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Method acting is a technique in which actors aim to engender in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters in an effort to create lifelike performances. It can be contrasted with more classical forms of acting, in which actors simulate thoughts and emotions through external means, such as vocal intonation or facial expression. The "method" in Method acting usually refers to the practice by which actors draw upon their own emotions and memories in their portrayals, aided by a set of exercises including sense memory and affective memory.
Method actors are often characterized as immersing themselves so totally in their characters that they continue to portray them even offstage or off-camera for the duration of a project. However, this is a popular misconception. While some actors do employ this approach, it is generally not taught as part of the Method.
Method acting has been described as "revolutionizing American theater." While classical acting instruction "had focused on developing external talents," the Method was "the first systematized training that also developed internal abilities (sensory, psychological, emotional)."[1]
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[edit] Origins
Method acting was first popularized by the Group Theatre in New York City in the 1930s and was subsequently advanced by Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio from the 1940s until his death in 1982. It was derived from the system created by Constantin Stanislavski, who pioneered similar ideas in his quest for "theatrical truth." Stanislavski developed his system through his friendships with Russia's leading actors, whose work he observed and analyzed; his collaborations with playwright Anton Chekhov; and his own acting and teaching at the Moscow Art Theater.
In Stanislavski's system, actors deeply analyze the motivations and emotions of their characters in order to personify them with psychological realism and emotional authenticity. Using the Method, an actor recalls emotions or sensations from his or her own life and uses them to identify with the character being portrayed.
Strasberg's students included many of America's most famous actors in the latter half of the 20th century, including Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, Tom Hanks,[citation needed] Robin Williams,[citation needed] and Daniel Day-Lewis.
[edit] Technique
Method acting usually refers to the teachings of Lee Strasberg, but the term is sometimes also applied to the teachings of his Group Theatre colleagues, including Stella Adler, Robert Lewis, and Sanford Meisner, and to other schools of acting derived from Stanislavski's system, each of which takes a slightly different approach. Even Stanislavski himself modified his system dramatically over the course of his career.
Method acting is frequently considered difficult to teach.[citation needed] This is partially due to the common misconception that there is a single Method, but in fact no one Method has been laid down. This plurality and ambiguity can make it hard to teach a single Method.[dubious ] It is also partially because sometimes Method acting is characterized by outsiders as lacking in any specific or technical approach to acting,[citation needed] while the abundance of training schools, syllabi, and years spent learning contradict this.[neutrality disputed] In general, however, Method acting combines a careful consideration of a character's psychological motives and personal identification with the character, possibly including a reproduction of the character's emotional state. It is often contrasted with acting in which thoughts and emotions are indicated, or presented in a clichéd, unrealistic way. Mostly, however, the surmising done about the character and the elusive, capricious, or sensitive nature of emotions combine to make Method acting difficult to teach.[citation needed]
Among the concepts and techniques of Method acting are substitution, "as if," sense memory, and affective or emotional memory.
Sanford Meisner, another Group Theatre pioneer, championed a closely related version of the Method, which came to be called the Meisner technique. Meisner broke from Strasberg on the subjects of sense memory and affective memory, basic techniques espoused by Strasberg through which actors access their own personal experiences in order to identify with and portray the emotional lives of their characters. Meisner found this approach too cerebral and advocated fully immersing oneself in the moment. He taught actors to achieve spontaneity by understanding the given circumstances of the scene and through exercises he designed to help actors invest emotionally in the scene, freeing them to react honestly as the character. Meisner described acting as "living truthfully under imaginary circumstances."[2]
Stella Adler, an actress and acting teacher whose fame was cemented by the success of her students Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro, also broke with Strasberg after she studied with Stanislavski himself, the only Group Theatre teacher to do so, after he had modified many of his early ideas about acting. Her version of the Method is based on the idea that actors should conjure up emotion not by using their own personal memories, but by using the scene's given circumstances. Adler's technique relies on carrying through tasks, wants, needs, and objectives. It also seeks to stimulate the actor's imagination through the use of "as ifs." She often preached, "We are what we do, not what we say."[citation needed]
More information about the origins and history of Method acting can be found in the book Strasberg's Method, by S. Loraine Hull. Hull, who taught for Strasberg for 12 years, interviewed director Elia Kazan, Cyrilla Falk (Stanislavski's granddaughter), members of the Moscow Art Theatre, and others about the Method. Before his death, Strasberg read the manuscript and called it "historically correct".[citation needed]
[edit] Teachers
Stanislavski described his acting system in a trilogy of books set in a fictional acting school: An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role. He also wrote an autobiography, My Life in Art. Acting teachers whose work was inspired by Stanislavski include:
- Richard Boleslawski, actor, film director, and founder of the American Laboratory Theatre in New York.
- Michael Chekhov, an actor, director, and author whose technique, largely an outside-in approach and somewhat more metaphysical, diverged from and returned to Stanislavski's over the course of his career.
- Maria Ouspenskaya, an actress who taught at the American Laboratory Theatre. Her students included John Garfield, Stella Adler, and Lee Strasberg.
- Lee Strasberg, a director, actor, and producer whose teachings are most closely associated with the term Method acting.
- Stella Adler, an actress and founder of the Stella Adler Conservatory in New York City.
- Herbert Berghof, founder of HB Studio in New York City.
- Uta Hagen, an actress and the author of Respect for Acting and A Challenge for the Actor, who emphasized the techniques of identity and substitution.
- Robert Lewis, an actor, director, co-founder of the Actors Studio, and author of Method—or Madness?
Method acting continues to be taught at schools around the world, including the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles, the Actors Studio Drama School in New York, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York and Los Angeles, HB Studio in New York, Le Studio Jack Garfein in Paris, Shelley Mitchell's Actors Center of San Francisco, and Hull Actors Studio in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, Calif.
[edit] Major books on Method acting
- Acting--The First Six Lessons by Ryszard Bolesławski
- To the Actor by Michael Chekhov
- A Dream of Passion by Lee Strasberg
- Sanford Meisner on Acting by Sanford Meisner
- Method—or Madness? by Robert Lewis
- Advice to the Players by Robert Lewis
- Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen
- No Acting Please by Eric Morris and Joan Hotchkis
- Strasberg's Method: As Taught by Lorrie Hull by S. Loraine Hull
- Method Actors: Three Generations of an American Acting Style by Steve Vineberg
[edit] References
- ^ Stella Adler, 91, an Actress and Teacher of the Method New York Times, December 22, 1992.
- ^ Meisner, Sanford. Sanford Meisner on Acting, Vintage, 1987
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