How can method acting improve my performance?
If you have ever been on an acting course and you have felt self-conscious and self-aware, then don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Many actors experience this. It’s called Stage Fright. There are varying degrees, but in essence, that is what it is.
What you may not know is that there is a technique that was developed 60 years ago to eradicate the actor of these fears before performance. It’s called The Method.
The way that this is achieved is through special relaxation techniques and concentration on specific life events.
When an actor experiences stage fright, his mind is focused on not messing up. He/ she wants to get it right. The irony is that if you are focused on this, then you’re not focused on the characters’ needs and wants, and this causes the actor to freeze up.
During a Method Acting Training, the actor is taught how to fully relax during acting classes on technique, and then shown how to focus and concentrate on activities and events that distract the mind from personal fear of failure.
This is one way that Method Acting can improve your performance, but there are many others.
If you need to create ‘emotion on demand’ then The Method is invaluable.
Picture the scene…
You’re on the set of Casualty or ER, and the Director wants you to burst into tears, as your wife/ husband/ boyfriend/ girlfriend has just popped their clogs on the operating table.
He wants you to burst into tears in about 2.5 minutes once the lights and cameras and sound are in position.
The question is, can you do it? You should be able to do it. Directors want and need actors who can do it.
The Method Actor can do this at will, on demand, time after time. During their acting training, they develop a tool called Emotional Memory which produces the emotion they want.
I could go on, as there are dozens of tools and techniques used by the Method Actor to produce real, in-depth, gritty believable performances consistently.
The question is, what kind of actor do you want to be?
Tags: acting classes, actor training, method acting
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