How Has Acting Changed Over Time
Acting is one aspect of theatre that is very interesting because it can take on many different forms and change the way a piece of theatre is interpreted. Acting across time has changed quite a lot. There have been many different forms and styles all over the world. The style of acting depends on the period and the place. There have been many different forms, from ancient Greek theatre to modern theatre. In ancient times Greece was a place that was known for its innovations and achievements. One of them was theatre. In ancient Greece one of the most important parts of acting was the chorus. The chorus were a group of performers who sang, danced, and commented on the action of the play. They helped to tell the story. The chorus gives background
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information. They also react the way the audience would to what is happening onstage. The chorus offered a balance of the extreme behaviors of the main character. They also gave philosophical observations and came to conclusions about what happened during the play. The idea of one actor stepping out and acting as a character comes from ancient Greece. A man named Thespis is known as the first person to step out of the chorus and becoming an actor, the term thespian comes from this. Men played both female and male roles because women were not allowed to act. All the actors wore masks with exaggerated facial expressions and used exaggerated gestures to show the emotion and action. Ancient civilizations like Greece had a lot of influence on the modern world, in ideas, art, philosophy and more. Their theatre is one of the things that has influence modern society. A lot of the traditions from Greek theatre and acting can still be seen today. In the fourteenth century or the Medieval era a popular form of theatre emerged in Japan.
No ̅ theatre is a traditional form of Japanese theatre that combines music, dance, and lyrics. There a few different roles in no ̅. They are shite, the main character, waki, the supporting character, tsure, an accompanying role, and the kyo ̅gen, the comedic role. All performers are male. Masks are an important part of the storytelling, they tell the audience what character is being portrayed. In this form of theatre actors are storytellers they use expressions and movements to get the message across. Actors use movements that mix elements of dance and pantomime. Performers use small gestures and slow and specific movements. Actors in this form of theatre had to learn specific movements and way of walking one is called, “hakobi”. Actors would have to have many lessons and practice a lot until they could master the very specific movements. There are also musicians and a chorus in no ̅ theatre that, like the Greek chorus, help to tell the story. Acting in no ̅ theatre was an important development, it helped to influence more Japanese theatre. The acting in no ̅ theatre is very traditional and must be performed in certain way every time, this was an important part of early Japanese theatre and is still important
today. In the Renaissance one of the most well-known playwrights was Shakespeare. In Shakespeare’s plays only men acted. In this time writers wrote parts with specific actors in mind and had a close relationship. As actors aged Shakespeare would write older more mature characters. Actors also only knew their lines and cues, they would not have a script which is common today. They would not hear the whole play until rehearsals. A few popular styles in Shakespeare’s plays were soliloquies, aside, and a presentational acting style. Soliloquies were when one actor would say their thoughts out loud to themselves, they are usually long. Aside is when an actor would talk to the audience and give them information about a plot or character that only they would get to know. The presentational acting style was the actors using grand and stylized movements and gestures. Speech was also more dramatic to increase the effect. This style also included things like the soliloquy and the aside, which connected the performers with the audience. This style of acting was not just used for Shakespeare’s plays, it was used throughout the renaissance era for many different playwrights in England. Today these specific acting styles are used to describe not only this era, but a specific acting and theatre style. During the Romantic era plays and playwrights rejected the rules of previous theatre types, feeling that they restricted genius, this influenced the acting styles of the era. One popular form of theatre to emerge during the romantic era was the melodrama. This was one of the most popular forms of entertainment during this period, especially in Britain. Melodramas tend to appeal to emotions and they do this by exaggerating plot or characters. So, acting styles for the melodrama tended to be exaggerated movements and over the top gestures. Actors used heightened emotions and facial expressions. They had a presentational acting style, where they faced the audience. A popular form of acting in the melodrama was to have all the actors freeze during an especially dramatic moment to make the emotion more intense. Music was often a part of the melodrama, it helped to intensify the emotion or tense moments, so actors would have to learn how to use the music to help them move the plot along. The character’s personality would be very obvious, it would be either good or evil. Actors would have had to stick to these personalities throughout the play. Theatre during this this time would more often appeal to emotion and entertaining the audience. They were also a lot about personal experience and emotions. The melodrama is a good example of this, because the purpose was to bring out emotions while also being entertaining to the audience. In the modern era in the United States a few people got together to create the Group Theatre and teach acting. Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Sanford Meisner all had a different approach to acting and teaching. They all pulled on the idea of realistic acting from Konstantin Stanislavski but added their own ideas and approaches to it. The Group Theatre put on productions, but eventually broke up. The influence on acting these people had is still seen today in America and are still being taught. Lee Strasberg taught something called method acting. Method acting involved getting in touch with the character and the emotions that they would feel. It also is taking a time in your own life when you felt a similar way and thinking about it and applying those feelings and emotions to the performance. The goal of this is to get a realistic performance. Method acting can also include an actor immersing themselves in the lives and circumstances of the character to better understand them. Stella Adler used emotional recall as well to achieve realistic actin, however she added the use of imagination. Adler believed using memories and your own emotions was too draining, so she taught actors to use their imaginations to create a past that belongs to the character. She believed actors needed to rely on instincts and imagination to fully understand a script and a character. Adler also encouraged actors to study cultural, historical, social ideas and more to be able to portray a wider range of character more accurately. Sandford Meisner’s technique is called “the reality of doing.” One main aspect that he teaches actors is the repetition exercise, where actors face each other and say something repeatedly with different tones and emotions, it is supposed to help actors become more spontaneous. It also helps actors focus on emotion rather than dialogue. Meisner teaches his students to focus on making their reaction authentic and emotional. Meisner also teaches emotional preparation, which is where an actor gets in touch with their own emotion to better understand and portray a character. This helps them react more realistically, they are also feeling those emotion instead of just acting them. Through his teaching actors were able to improvise based on instincts and portray characters realistically, which was his goal. Realistic theatre was important during this time and still is. The lessons and techniques of these teachers are still being taught today and are still major part of theatre and acting today. There have been many different styles of acting throughout history. The unique styles of acting seen throughout several different time periods were all important for each time they were in. Many of them can still be seen today and are still important today.
information. They also react the way the audience would to what is happening onstage. The chorus offered a balance of the extreme behaviors of the main character. They also gave philosophical observations and came to conclusions about what happened during the play. The idea of one actor stepping out and acting as a character comes from ancient Greece. A man named Thespis is known as the first person to step out of the chorus and becoming an actor, the term thespian comes from this. Men played both female and male roles because women were not allowed to act. All the actors wore masks with exaggerated facial expressions and used exaggerated gestures to show the emotion and action. Ancient civilizations like Greece had a lot of influence on the modern world, in ideas, art, philosophy and more. Their theatre is one of the things that has influence modern society. A lot of the traditions from Greek theatre and acting can still be seen today. In the fourteenth century or the Medieval era a popular form of theatre emerged in Japan.
No ̅ theatre is a traditional form of Japanese theatre that combines music, dance, and lyrics. There a few different roles in no ̅. They are shite, the main character, waki, the supporting character, tsure, an accompanying role, and the kyo ̅gen, the comedic role. All performers are male. Masks are an important part of the storytelling, they tell the audience what character is being portrayed. In this form of theatre actors are storytellers they use expressions and movements to get the message across. Actors use movements that mix elements of dance and pantomime. Performers use small gestures and slow and specific movements. Actors in this form of theatre had to learn specific movements and way of walking one is called, “hakobi”. Actors would have to have many lessons and practice a lot until they could master the very specific movements. There are also musicians and a chorus in no ̅ theatre that, like the Greek chorus, help to tell the story. Acting in no ̅ theatre was an important development, it helped to influence more Japanese theatre. The acting in no ̅ theatre is very traditional and must be performed in certain way every time, this was an important part of early Japanese theatre and is still important
today. In the Renaissance one of the most well-known playwrights was Shakespeare. In Shakespeare’s plays only men acted. In this time writers wrote parts with specific actors in mind and had a close relationship. As actors aged Shakespeare would write older more mature characters. Actors also only knew their lines and cues, they would not have a script which is common today. They would not hear the whole play until rehearsals. A few popular styles in Shakespeare’s plays were soliloquies, aside, and a presentational acting style. Soliloquies were when one actor would say their thoughts out loud to themselves, they are usually long. Aside is when an actor would talk to the audience and give them information about a plot or character that only they would get to know. The presentational acting style was the actors using grand and stylized movements and gestures. Speech was also more dramatic to increase the effect. This style also included things like the soliloquy and the aside, which connected the performers with the audience. This style of acting was not just used for Shakespeare’s plays, it was used throughout the renaissance era for many different playwrights in England. Today these specific acting styles are used to describe not only this era, but a specific acting and theatre style. During the Romantic era plays and playwrights rejected the rules of previous theatre types, feeling that they restricted genius, this influenced the acting styles of the era. One popular form of theatre to emerge during the romantic era was the melodrama. This was one of the most popular forms of entertainment during this period, especially in Britain. Melodramas tend to appeal to emotions and they do this by exaggerating plot or characters. So, acting styles for the melodrama tended to be exaggerated movements and over the top gestures. Actors used heightened emotions and facial expressions. They had a presentational acting style, where they faced the audience. A popular form of acting in the melodrama was to have all the actors freeze during an especially dramatic moment to make the emotion more intense. Music was often a part of the melodrama, it helped to intensify the emotion or tense moments, so actors would have to learn how to use the music to help them move the plot along. The character’s personality would be very obvious, it would be either good or evil. Actors would have had to stick to these personalities throughout the play. Theatre during this this time would more often appeal to emotion and entertaining the audience. They were also a lot about personal experience and emotions. The melodrama is a good example of this, because the purpose was to bring out emotions while also being entertaining to the audience. In the modern era in the United States a few people got together to create the Group Theatre and teach acting. Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Sanford Meisner all had a different approach to acting and teaching. They all pulled on the idea of realistic acting from Konstantin Stanislavski but added their own ideas and approaches to it. The Group Theatre put on productions, but eventually broke up. The influence on acting these people had is still seen today in America and are still being taught. Lee Strasberg taught something called method acting. Method acting involved getting in touch with the character and the emotions that they would feel. It also is taking a time in your own life when you felt a similar way and thinking about it and applying those feelings and emotions to the performance. The goal of this is to get a realistic performance. Method acting can also include an actor immersing themselves in the lives and circumstances of the character to better understand them. Stella Adler used emotional recall as well to achieve realistic actin, however she added the use of imagination. Adler believed using memories and your own emotions was too draining, so she taught actors to use their imaginations to create a past that belongs to the character. She believed actors needed to rely on instincts and imagination to fully understand a script and a character. Adler also encouraged actors to study cultural, historical, social ideas and more to be able to portray a wider range of character more accurately. Sandford Meisner’s technique is called “the reality of doing.” One main aspect that he teaches actors is the repetition exercise, where actors face each other and say something repeatedly with different tones and emotions, it is supposed to help actors become more spontaneous. It also helps actors focus on emotion rather than dialogue. Meisner teaches his students to focus on making their reaction authentic and emotional. Meisner also teaches emotional preparation, which is where an actor gets in touch with their own emotion to better understand and portray a character. This helps them react more realistically, they are also feeling those emotion instead of just acting them. Through his teaching actors were able to improvise based on instincts and portray characters realistically, which was his goal. Realistic theatre was important during this time and still is. The lessons and techniques of these teachers are still being taught today and are still major part of theatre and acting today. There have been many different styles of acting throughout history. The unique styles of acting seen throughout several different time periods were all important for each time they were in. Many of them can still be seen today and are still important today.