ABSTRACT
Acting is the behaving believably in pretend circumstances for a theatrical purpose. Behaving believably means the character's behavior must strike the audience as believable on human terms. This is what Shakespeare was referring to when he said, in Hamlet, that the actor's job is "to hold the mirror up to nature." In acting theory, acting is doing, and it always implies that there is an objective, a purpose. Action involves physical movement, but there does not necessarily have to be a lot of it. Christopher Reeve suffered neck-down paralysis from a spinal cord injury, but he was still able to act in the 1998 remake of Hitchcock's Rear Window. Action has more to do with intention than physicality. The most important maxim in acting theory is: "Action, in pursuit of an objective, while overcoming an obstacle.".
