Drama Term Tuesday #21

Method Acting

Stanislavski

The Method

System of acting derived from Stanislavski and popularised in the USA by Group Theatre, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Elia Kazan and Boleslavsky amongst others. There are various interpretations of method acting.

There is a focus on creating life-like realistic performances with actors drawing on their own emotions, memories and experiences. Based on the sense or emotional memory process, method acting focuses on actors fully immersing themselves in their characters in order to sense all of the experiences the character would sense.

Well suited to film and realistic acting, Method Acting has been highly popular and also highly criticised for over indulgent focus on internalised emotion and excess.

Excerpt from Drama Key Terms and Concepts

Drama Term Tuesday #15

Willing suspension of disbelief

Phrase coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to describe the conscious acceptance of the illusion or unreality of drama by audiences; although it is clearly an actor on a performance space, members of audences suspend or hold at bay their scepticism or sense of reality in favour of believing the imagined dramatic action.

Excerpt from Drama Key Terms and Concepts