ABSTRACT
Method acting is one of the most popular and controversial approaches to acting in the United States. According to Harold Clurman, the ‘Method’, as it is commonly called, is ‘an abbreviation of the term “Stanislavsky Method” ’. The ‘Method’ itself, Clurman adds, is a ‘means of training actors as well as a technique for the use of actors in their work on parts’ (1994: 369). Like Stanislavsky’s System, Method acting codifies acting exercises, rehearsal techniques and working procedures, with the intention of helping actors achieve greater persuasiveness, feeling and depth. The Method combines Stanislavsky’s techniques and the work of his pupil Eugene Vakhtangov for the purpose of understanding and effectively performing a role.
