Guide to Method Acting

Method acting was revolutionized in Russia and America.

Method acting is a technique used by stage and film actors to create reality out of imaginary circumstances. In 1898, Constantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko founded the Moscow Art Theatre to train a group of actors in the art of living on stage. Throughout the twentieth century, the legacy continued in New York City with the formation of The Group Theatre and the Actors' Studio. The "method" teaches students how to use their own inner life to motivate them to behave as the character behaves in a script. The method eschews a mechanical, external approach to acting and uses the actor's own experience to build the life of the character.

Things You'll Need

• Chair
• Script

Instructions

1. Practice relaxation on a regular basis. Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet on the floor and arms hanging by your side. Breathe naturally. Focus on areas where you are carrying physical tension. Stretch tense muscles to promote physical relaxation. Let go of extraneous thoughts to eliminate mental tension. Physical and mental relaxation is a must to concentrate your body in all other areas related to the method.

2. Learn the art of sense memory. Pull your hand up and hold it by your side. Recreate the physical sensation of holding a general everyday object--such as a piece of fruit or a warm beverage. Focus on reliving the actual sensation, not miming what it looks like to hold the object. Move on from static objects to more advanced exercises such as recreating the sensation of encountering a personal object or recreating physical pain. Sense memory teaches students to use their five senses--sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste--to open up the imagination and apply the successful result of the sensorial recreation to props and objects on stage.

3. Apply an emotional memory to your work. Discuss in detail the sensorial aspects of an emotional event at least seven years old in your life. Concentrate on describing the sensory components of the memory to rebuild the experience in your body and mind. Reliving the physical sensations of an emotional event in your past is useful for emotional moments on stage. Apply the result of a successful emotional memory exercise to a moment on stage when you have difficulty creating emotion. Using an event that is over seven years old ensures that the memory is permanently ingrained in the actor's consciousness and enough time has passed for the actor to remain in control of the memory.

4. Use substitutions and the "Magic If" when working on the role. Substitute a personal association or experience for the one in the play if you are not able to act with truth. For example, if your character must fall in love with another actor on stage and you cannot summon the will to behave this way, substitute another person in your mind that you have loved to generate the appropriate response. Apply the "Magic If" by asking "if I were this character, how would I behave?" Going further, ask "what would motivate me to behave as the character behaves?" Asking the "Magic If" stimulates the imagination when it is stalled. Substitutions and the "Magic If" allow the actor to find additional creative motivations to behave as the character in the play must behave.

5. Live moment to moment on stage. Creating a real sensory and emotional life for the character keeps the actor completely focused while on stage. Stay relaxed at all times so tension does not corrupt the imaginary realities you have created or inhibit your concentration on listening and responding to fellow actors. The method opens up the opportunity for actors to rely on moment to moment reality on stage, as opposed to relying on preplanned, mechanical actions.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn the method under the eye of an experienced teacher. The method is the inner work for creating the character, not a means of display for an actor's eccentricities or personality.

References

• TheatrGROUP: Relaxation and Method Technique Exercises