Acting styles have changed throughout history. In ancient Greece, acting was highly presentational with actors delivering poetry while wearing masks. During the Middle Ages, actors used their own faces to portray biblical characters which began our fascination with performers. In the 17th-18th centuries, actresses began being included in performances but were still socially unacceptable. The Romantic period in the late 18th century led to an emotional style of acting through gestures. Modern acting training focuses on voice, body, and mind through classes in text analysis, observation, improvisation, and dance or martial arts.

1. The Actor

2. Acting Throughout History
 Acting styles and methods have changed
throughout history.

3. Acting in Ancient Greece
 Historical record suggests that acting was highly
presentational.
 Actors delivered poetry.
 Actors used masks.
 Women were not involved in the play contests
of ancient Greece.

4. Medieval Acting 5th to 15th century.
 Many medieval actors used their own faces to
portray biblical characters in the cycle plays.
 Began our fascination with performing
personalities.
 More importance was given to looks along with
talent.

5. Actresses 16th – 18th century.
 Cross-gender performance still around after the
Elizabethan period.
 Women began being included in Roman mime
performances.
 Were also allowed in commedia dell'arte.

6. Actresses 17th – 18th century
 Even after the breakthroughs for women in the
European performing arts during the Spanish
Golden Age and English Restoration, actresses
as a class were still regarded as morally suspect
and socially unacceptable.

7. The Romantic Rebellion end18th –
beginning 19th century.
 Before the twentieth century, actors and orators
adopted a widely understood system of physical
attitudes and gestures that were deemed
appropriate for any conceivable emotional
state. Think emoticons. 
 http://19thcenturyacts.com/gestures.html
 Led to an acting style characterized by an
overflow of emotion.

8. Presentational Acting Style today
 musicals
 many avant-garde performances

9. An Actors Tools
 Voice – projection, articulation,
 body – movement, relaxation
 Mind – analysis, observation

10. Acting Classes
 detailed text analysis
 careful observation of human beings and other
animal life
 exercises in improvisation
 Classes in dance and the martial arts help an
actor develop an expressive body.

11. Konstantin Stanislavsky
 Stanislavsky stressed the importance of
psychological exploration of character.
 Subtext – what your character is thinking.
 Objective – what you character wants.
 Sense memory – recalling a moment based on
sensory information not emotion.
 Affective memory – emotional recall.

12. Preparing for a Role
 Memorizing lines is the least part of preparing for
a role.
 The actor reads about manners and social
conditions at the time the play was written.
 An actor records his or her blocking in a copy of
the script.
 Most actors find it necessary to do warm-ups
before going on stage.

13. Rehearsals
 In early rehearsals most directors will interrupt
and change things here and there.
 Any stage combat required in a play is usually
taught during working rehearsals just after the
actors are of book.
 When a director gives an actor a note at the
end of a run-through, the actor is expected to
implement that change in the next run-through.