[00:00.00]Listen to part of a lecture in an acting class.
[00:04.74]Professor: OK. As you already know, from the course description, this class is going to teach you the fundamentals of acting. [00:11.57]But before we get into any techniques and exercises, what you're going to be learning in here, this semester is what's known as method acting. [00:19.60]How many of you have heard of method acting? [00:22.76]Almost all of you who can tell me what method acting is. [00:29.15]Nobody. Donna, what's method acting?
[00:33.18]Donna: I'm not sure, but I think it was invented by a man named Stanislavski.
[00:39.40]Professor: OK. That's a start. [00:41.50]Method acting is usually associated with a man named Constantine Stanislavski. [00:46.80]Stanislavski did not directly invent method acting. [00:50.68]The story is he was born in Russia in 1863. [00:54.63]He developed a systematic approach to acting that became known as the Stanislavski’s system.
[01:00.35]Before Stanislavski, acting meant forgetting about yourself and pretending to be someone else, and you pretended by using certain conventions. [01:09.70]If an actor wants to show this character want revenge, he'd shake his fist and stop his feet. [01:15.53]Or if an actor wanted to show that her character was in love, she'd put her hands over her heart and so on.
[01:22.80]But Stanislavski developed a different approach, a psychological approach, where actors had to use their own personality, their own experiences and emotions when they were performing. [01:34.38]And that principle became the basis for us now known as method acting. [01:39.60]What happened was that starting back in the 1930s, acting teachers in the United States heard about the Stanislavski system, and they were very impressed by it, and so they adapted it and began teaching it in their own classes. [01:54.20]And this modified version of the Stanislavski system became known as the method or method acting.
[02:01.40]Actually, there are quite a few varieties of method acting, but they're all based on Stanislavski idea, that actors have to tap into their own experiences and emotions when they're performing. Donna?
[02:15.30]Donna: But what if that character is really different from me? [02:21.39]I can't just stand up there and be myself, right?
[02:25.37]Professor: Well, no. You can't be Don Smith from Kansas City, Missouri. [02:30.39]But you can draw on certain parts of your personality, certain parts of your experience and emotional life. [02:37.35]The key is you have to find parts of you, your life that are analogous to those of your character to your characters life.
[02:45.71]Donna: OK, but let's say I'm playing a character who's like, really brave, like she's not afraid of anybody.
[02:54.88]Professor: Well, I'd be willing to bet that if you thought about it, you could think of a set of circumstances where you'd stand up and confront someone who is much more powerful than you. [03:04.78]For example, suppose you had to do that to protect your family.
[03:08.80]Donna: Oh yeah, but I'd be scared and my character wouldn't be.
[03:13.80]Professor: Okay, let me tell you something. [03:16.26]If you portray your character is not being afraid of anything, is going to be a very boring performance. [03:22.73]What moves an audience is to see someone who scared to death but stands up and does the right thing anyway. [03:29.20]That's inspiring. It's that sort of complexity, the complexity of real people like you. [03:36.21]That's what brings a performance to life.
[03:39.00]Donna: Okay? But what if the script doesn't say that she's afraid? [03:43.90]I mean you can just invent that yourself.
[03:46.95]Professor: Well, you can't just invent anything that pops into your head. [03:51.19]But if it's consistent with the playwright’s intentions, yes, you can certainly incorporate that.
[03:56.68]Donna: You mean, you can just change the words.
[03:59.44]Professor: No, you can't change the words. What you're doing is filling in between the lines. [04:05.04]Stanislavski once said something to effect of, people can read the lines at home. [04:11.00]They come to the theater to hear what's between the lines.
[04:14.80]Donna: So you mean like the audience can see that the characters afraid by like her, her body language when she's not speaking?
[04:25.70]Professor: Or even when she is speaking, something in her voice or her body language. [04:30.65]When we say between the lines, we don't mean literally between one line of the script and another. [04:36.65]We're talking about things that are not explicitly stated in the actors’ lines. [04:41.05]For example, your character might say to another character “I hate you”. [04:45.74]But from the way you say it, your intonation and your body language, we know you're lying. [04:51.40]So this semester, remember, people can read the lines at home.
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