2. Click here for a
little tidbit from
Sir Ian McKellan!
What is Acting?
Acting has changed dramatically over the years, and even today there are many
different ways to approach creating a role.
3. Diderot’s “Paradox of the Actor”
Behaving truthfully in artificial conditions
Diderot was a very smart
French dude who pointed
out what’s so difficult
about being an actor: the
fact that you have to spend
your time believing in
things that are fictional. Of
course, you also have to be
aware that they are
fictional. Because people
who genuinely can’t tell
the difference between
truth and fiction are
generally what we like to
call insane.
Acting is the art of living truthfully in imaginary
circumstances.
4. Acting is about telling the truth…
Lots of people think that
being a good actor makes
you a really good liar. I
disagree. I think the best
actors are the ones who
know how to tell the
truth. Of course, again,
they have to walk that fine
line where they treat
fiction like truth, but don’t
fall into believing it
completely.
But not the whole truth…
5. What is “Good” Acting?
It’s pretty safe to say that there are actors we consider good and actors we consider
not so good. So what makes someone a good actor?
6. Take Gary Oldman for example. He is one of those actors who I almost never
recognize until I see his name in the credits. He transforms for each role based on the
given circumstances.
7. Do you buy what you hear/see
Trying to figure out how to define good acting is
very subjective. Looking at great acting from
50 years ago shows how tastes change.
The major thing you need to look for is, based
on the planet that has been created for this
play, DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE AND
HEAR?
8. Performing vs. Acting
We talked about this earlier in the semester – remember that
the difference between performing and acting is that actors
are portraying someone other than themselves. So the actual
US Olympic hockey team was performing, while the actors
who played them in the movie Miracle were acting: the
outcome of the game was already determined, the names on
the back of the jerseys were not their real names.
9. Performing vs. Acting
Remember, there’s also a difference between a “personality” and
a character. On his cooking show, Emeril is just Emeril, but he’s
the TV version of himself (I hope… I mean… that would be a
tough guy to live with). It’s the same way that you behave
differently based on whether you’re speaking to your
grandmother or your significant other. But actors are not being a
version of themselves, they are being someone else.
10. Presentational Acting
• Outside In
– Actors building on their physical characteristics
first – so maybe the want to rehearse in the shoes
they’ll be wearing, or use a false nose or
something to make them feel different, then the
emotions grow out of how they feel
11. Outside In
Click on each picture to hear these two crazy talented actors
talk about some of the physical preparation they have
undergone in working on a character. You’ll see that, like
anything else, this technique can be hit or miss.
12. Representational Acting
• Inside Out
– Acting that builds first from the imagination and
then uses the mental ideas that the actor has
created to shape the movements and physical life
of the character
13. Realistic Acting
• At the beginning of the 20th century there was
a big push in literature to write realistically –
and theatre wanted to keep up with novels by
being as detailed and realistic as possible.
– Playwrights: Henrik Ibsen (“father of realism”),
August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov
– Konstantin Stanislavski at the Moscow Art Theatre
(more on him in a few slides) developed systems
and exercises to help actors behave more
truthfully in their given circumstances
15. Acting Through History
• Greece
– Masked
– No women
– Chorus
– Loud voices and big gestures
– Part of a religious rite
– They were not professional actors – just regular
townspeople who were selected to participate as
part of their civic duty (kind of like jury duty)
17. Acting Through History
• Medieval
– Improvisation – they had general
outlines or “scenarios,” but not always
full scripts, so the actors might make
up a lot of what was said on the spot
– Actors tended to play one kind of stock
character: so there was the guy who
was always the young lover and the
guy who was always the old man, etc.
– Physical comedy
– Tricks like juggling and puppetry
– Women were involved in travelling
troupes, though probably not in the
religious town dramas
– Travelling troupes were professional
actors, but those who participated in
religious dramas would have been
normal townspeople like the Greeks
19. Acting Through History
• Elizabethan
– Only men
– Professional actors
– Good memory
• These actors would have 10-20 plays in their heads
at any given time and had to be ready with them
whenever the theatre decided what was in
demand
– Got “sides” instead of full scripts
• There was no easy way to print multiple copies, so
rather than giving all the actors full versions of the
script, they would get just their lines and their cue
lines (the lines right before theirs)
– Actors were often famous for one particular
kind of character (clowns, kings, women, etc.)
21. Acting through History
• 17th - 19th century
– Presentational – a lot of elaborate gestures, not
concerned with “truthfulness” or “realism”
– Teapot acting
• Acting was very formal, it was common for star actors to stand
downstage center - one hand on his hip - the other hand bent
and raised, and proclaim the lines… do the pose… no really… do
it… and you’ll see that you’re a little teapot!
– Claptrap
• Audiences and actors alike were very interested in big stars.
When a big star would deliver a great speech, he might get a
big standing ovation, then he would do the speech again, get
another ovation, and so on. This is where we get the term
“claptrap”
– Women starting to be allowed onstage
– Skilled at elocution – lots of rules for how to speak well
– Skilled at poses – lots of rules for specific poses that
would illustrate specific emotions
22. I told you we’d talk
more about him… and
this won’t be the last
time! He developed a
series of ideas and tools
Konstantin Stanislavsky
to help actors work on
their craft.
• Given Circumstances – basic facts that define the world of
the play – conditions of place, period, social level, and so
on
• Motivation – what’s the motivation behind the action?
What is making the character do something and how does
that action get the character closer to the goal.
• Action – what you are doing to another to get what you
want
• Objective – a character’s goal within a beat or scene
• Obstacle – a barrier, difficulty, something preventing the
reaching of an objective.
• Super-Objective – Life goal of the character
• Beat – Russian mispronunciation indicating a section of a
scene (when Stanislavski said “bit” it sounded like “beat”
and we ran with it) with a single action or smallest unit of
action to be played involving a single thought or emotion
• Magic If – An imagination tool that urges the actor to ask
him/herself the question, “IF I were in the circumstances
of this character, how would I act?”
23. The Method
• The Group Theatre
– Lee Strasberg
– Harold Clurman
– Cheryl Crawford
When Stanislavski’s ideas were brought to America, they
were reinterpreted by Lee Strasberg and shaped into
something called “The Method.” Method acting involves
having the actor use his/her own memories to get in the
appropriate emotional state for the role (emotional
recall). A lot of people agree that this can be emotionally
dangerous, since it doesn’t give us a chance to heal from
emotional trauma if we keep dredging it up all the time.
Stanislavski, on the other hand, was more interested in
IMAGINATION.
24. Other Acting Methods
Even though Lee Strasberg called his approach “The Method,”
there are plenty of other methods used by actors all over
the world.
• Sanford Meisner broke off from the Group Theatre and
created a system based on keeping actors in the moment.
• Laban was a choreographer who developed a movement
vocabulary to help actors discover the physical life of their
characters.
• Tadashi Suzuki developed a rigorous physical training
regimen that emphasizes complete control over the body
and consciousness
• Viewpoints is a physical training system developed by
Mary Overlie and Anne Bogart based on how bodies move
in space in relation to each other
• Biomechanics is a system that was developed by Vsevelod
Meyerhold to help actors get appropriate responses from
the audience whether the actor is truly experiencing the
emotions or not.
25. Training for Actors
• Physical
– Movement/Dance
– Relaxation
– Vocal Training
• Mental
– Concentration/Discipline
– Imagination Believe it or not, actors don’t just get a job, get a
script, and get famous. There is a great deal of
training that goes into the theatre. As an actor,
your whole body is your instrument, and you
have to be constantly working to make sure that
you can control it.
26. The Actor’s Life for Me!
• Auditions
• Headshots
• Ongoing training
• AEA (Actor’s Equity
Here is a sampling
Association) of some
• AFTRA (Association headshots
of Film, Television
and Radio Actors)
• SAG (Screen Actors’
Guild)
– FYI – SAG and AFTRA
are in the process of
combining
27. Auditions - How Actors Get Hired
• Multiple forms
– Cattle Call
– Prepared
Monologues
– Cold Readings
• Multiple times Unlike other jobs, actors have to get a new job every time a
show closes, so they are constantly auditioning. Auditions
– Call Backs come in many different forms. Cattle Call auditions are huge
open calls where hundreds of people show up. Some
• A weird type of job auditions require the actors to prepare a monologue, others
might provide something on the spot that they will have to
read (cold reading). Directors then narrow down the pool and
interview… invite some of the actors back for callbacks. At any given time,
about 90% of the members of the professional actors’ union
(Actor’s Equity) are unemployed. It’s a tough business.
28. Am I on?
• What do actors need to do to prepare for a
role? Congratulations! You got the part! So now you
– Highlighting Lines have to start working on your script! You
highlight your lines (even the big famous movie
stars do this), make sure you understand your
– Script Analysis character’s role within the play, do some
character research, and prepare some ideas and
• What do they do? questions to ask the director when you get into
rehearsal.
• What do they say?
• What do others say about them?
– Research
Click here for a little
• Laura Linney tidbit from Laura
Linney!
29. Rehearsals
• Table Work
• Run-Through
• Technical Rehearsal
• Dress Rehearsal
• Previews The first few days of rehearsal the cast and director sit around a table reading
and working through the script to get everyone on the same page. This is
• Opening Night! called “table actors get blocking (movement around the stage) asus. During
rehearsal,
work,” and it’s another thing that Stanislavski gave
well as
direction about their emotional and intellectual approaches to the character.
Run-throughs are when they run the entire play from start to finish. This
happens more and more as rehearsals move along. Technical rehearsal is the
first time the actors get a chance to work with the lighting and sound effects.
At dress rehearsal they add in the costumes on top of everything else.
Previews are performances that are opened up to a select audience before
the official opening date, and then… it’s opening night!
30. Rehearsals and actors and directors and plays
come in infinite varieties, but in the end,
convincing acting
boils down to one
central skill…
32. Acting for Stage/Acting for Film
• What’s the difference? Some actors are able to transition between the
worlds of film and theatre fairly easily, while some
– Live audience/camera are only truly good at one or the other. The fact
is, while the skill of imagination is incorporated in
– Each performance all kinds of acting, there are a lot of other factors
that make the skills involved very different.
counts/choose the best
performance in editing
– Scenes performed in
order/scenes filmed in
whatever order they like
– Have to be heard and
understood in the very last
row/have to be heard and
understood by the microphone
right above their head
33. Improvisation
Not all acting comes from a script. There are some
people who have made very successful careers out of
making things up on the spot! But even thought it may
look a little chaotic, improv works on a set of rules and
structures that help actors to create interesting stories
and characters in the moment. (And PS – there are lots
of people who are way better at this than the guys on
Whose Line is it Anyway… they’re just recognizable)
33
34. Basic Rules of Improvisation
• Say “yes, and”
– In improv, you always have to say yes to any offer. If your scene partner tells you there’s an
elephant over there, and you say there isn’t, there’s nowhere to go! So just agree, then build
on it!
• One offer at a time
– In improv, each line or physical movement is called an “offer.” And it works a lot better if you
keep offers simple. If you say too many things, your partner has a hard time deciding what to
respond to.
• Don’t block
– In scripted acting, “blocking” is the movement of the actors around the stage. In improv,
“blocking” means refusing someone else’s offer. Maybe you had a better idea. Tough. Don’t
judge your partners, just go with the flow!
• Avoid asking questions - unless you’re also adding information.
– Questions put all the responsibility on your partner. If you just say, “where have you been?”
you haven’t added anything to the scene. However, if you say, “Honey, did you pick up the car
from the mechanic?” then we’ve learned all sorts of stuff!
• Play in the present and use the moment
– Don’t plan too far down the line! Just respond to the most recent thing that has been said,
and don’t second guess yourself. Good improvisers learn to say the first thing that comes to
mind.
• CROWW
– In building a scene, make sure to establish Character, Relationship, Objective, Where/When
• Be specific and provide colorful details.
– This doesn’t mean always be outlandish or dirty. It just means create an interesting world to
play in!
