Acting

For the legal meaning, see Acting (law). For the military sense, see Acting (rank).

Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by

an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film,
radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode.

Acting involves a broad range of skills, including a well-developed

imagination, emotional facility, physical expressivity, vocal projection,
clarity of speech, and the ability to interpret drama. Acting also demands
an ability to employ dialects, accents, improvisation, observation and
emulation, mime, and stage combat. Many actors train at length in
specialist programs or colleges to develop these skills. The vast majority
of professional actors have undergone extensive training. Actors and
actresses will often have many instructors and teachers for a full range
of training involving singing, scene-work, audition techniques, and acting
for camera.

Most early sources in the West that examine the art of acting (Greek:
ὑπόκρισις, hypokrisis) discuss it as part of rhetoric.[1]
French stage and early film actress
Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Training
3 Improvisation
4 Physiological effects
5 Semiotics
6 Resumes and auditions
7 Rehearsal
8 Audience
Actors in samurai and rōnin
9 Heart rate
costume at the Kyoto Eigamura film set
9.1 Stress
10 See also
11 References
12 Sources
13 External links

History [ edit ]

Main article: History of theatre

One of the first known actors was an ancient Greek called Thespis of Icaria in Athens. Writing two centuries after
the event, Aristotle in his Poetics (c. 335 BCE) suggests that Thespis stepped out of the dithyrambic chorus and
addressed it as a separate character. Before Thespis, the chorus narrated (for example, "Dionysus did this,
Dionysus said that"). When Thespis stepped out from the chorus, he spoke as if he were the character (for
example, "I am Dionysus, I did this"). To distinguish between these different modes of storytelling—enactment
and narration

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—Aristotle uses the terms "mimesis" (via enactment) and "diegesis" (via narration). From Thespis' name derives
the word "thespian".

Training [ edit ]

Further information: Drama school

Conservatories and drama schools typically offer two- to four-year

training on all aspects of acting. Universities mostly offer three- to four-
year programs, in which a student is often able to choose to focus on
acting, whilst continuing to learn about other aspects of theatre. Schools
vary in their approach, but in North America the most popular method
taught derives from the 'system' of Konstantin Stanislavski, which was
developed and popularised in America as method acting by Lee
Strasberg, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, and others.
Members of the First Studio, with
Other approaches may include a more physically based orientation, such whom Stanislavski began to develop
as that promoted by theatre practitioners as diverse as Anne Bogart, his 'system' of actor training, which
forms the basis for most professional
Jacques Lecoq, Jerzy Grotowski, or Vsevolod Meyerhold. Classes may training in the West.
also include psychotechnique, mask work, physical theatre,
improvisation, and acting for camera.

Regardless of a school's approach, students should expect intensive training in textual interpretation, voice, and
movement. Applications to drama programmes and conservatories usually involve extensive auditions. Anybody
over the age of 18 can usually apply. Training may also start at a very young age. Acting classes and
professional schools targeted at under-18s are widespread. These classes introduce young actors to different
aspects of acting and theatre, including scene study.

Increased training and exposure to public speaking allows humans to maintain calmer and more relaxed
physiologically.[2] By measuring a public speaker's heart rate maybe one of the easiest ways to judge shifts in
stress as the heart rate increases with anxiety . As actors increase performances, heart rate and other evidence
of stress can decrease.[3] This is very important in training for actors, as adaptive strategies gained from
increased exposure to public speaking can regulate implicit and explicit anxiety.[4] By attending an institution with
a specialization in acting, increased opportunity to act will lead to more relaxed physiology and decrease in stress
and its effects on the body. These effects can vary from hormonal to cognitive health that can impact quality of life
and performance[5]

Improvisation [ edit ]

Further information: Improvisational theatre and Devised theatre

Some classical forms of acting involve a substantial element of

improvised performance. Most notable is its use by the troupes of the
commedia dell'arte, a form of masked comedy that originated in Italy.

Improvisation as an approach to acting formed an important part of the

Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski's 'system' of actor
training, which he developed from the 1910s onwards. Late in 1910, the
playwright Maxim Gorky invited Stanislavski to join him in Capri, where
they discussed training and Stanislavski's emerging "grammar" of

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acting.[6] Inspired by a popular theatre performance in Naples that Two masked characters from the
utilised the techniques of the commedia dell'arte, Gorky suggested that commedia dell'arte, whose "lazzi"
involved a significant degree of
they form a company, modelled on the medieval strolling players, in improvisation.
which a playwright and group of young actors would devise new plays
together by means of improvisation.[7] Stanislavski would develop this
use of improvisation in his work with his First Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre.[8] Stanislavski's use was
extended further in the approaches to acting developed by his students, Michael Chekhov and Maria Knebel.

In the United Kingdom, the use of improvisation was pioneered by Joan Littlewood from the 1930s onwards and,
later, by Keith Johnstone and Clive Barker. In the United States, it was promoted by Viola Spolin, after working
with Neva Boyd at a Hull House in Chicago, Illinois (Spolin was Boyd's student from 1924 to 1927). Like the
British practitioners, Spolin felt that playing games was a useful means of training actors and helped to improve
an actor's performance. With improvisation, she argued, people may find expressive freedom, since they do not
know how an improvised situation will turn out. Improvisation demands an open mind in order to maintain
spontaneity, rather than pre-planning a response. A character is created by the actor, often without reference to a
dramatic text, and a drama is developed out of the spontaneous interactions with other actors. This approach to
creating new drama has been developed most substantially by the British filmmaker Mike Leigh, in films such as
Secrets & Lies (1996), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014).

Improvisation is also used to cover up if an actor or actress makes a mistake.

Physiological effects [ edit ]

Acting in front of an audience many times can cause "stage fright", a form of stress in which someone becomes
anxious in front of an audience. This is common among actors, especially new actors, and can cause symptoms
such as increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and sweating.[9][10]

In a 2017 study on American university students, actors of various experience levels all showed similarly elevated
heart rates throughout their performances; this agrees with previous studies on professional and amateur actors'
heart rates.[11] While all actors experienced stress, causing elevated heart rate, the more experienced actors
displayed less heart rate variability than the less experienced actors in the same play. The more experienced
actors experienced less stress while performing, and therefore had a smaller degree of variability than the less
experienced, more stressed actors. The more experienced an actor is, the more stable their heart rate will be
while performing, but will still experience elevated heart rates.

Semiotics [ edit ]

The semiotics of acting involves a study of the ways in which aspects of

a performance come to operate for its audience as signs. This process
largely involves the production of meaning, whereby elements of an
actor's performance acquire significance, both within the broader context
of the dramatic action and in the relations each establishes with the real
world.

Following the ideas proposed by the Surrealist theorist Antonin Artaud,

however, it may also be possible to understand communication with an
Antonin Artaud compared the effect
audience that occurs 'beneath' significance and meaning (which the of an actor's performance on an
semiotician Félix Guattari described as a process involving the audience in his "Theatre of Cruelty"
transmission of "a-signifying signs"). In his The Theatre and its Double

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(1938), Artaud compared this interaction to the way in which a snake with the way in which a snake charmer
affects snakes.
charmer communicates with a snake, a process which he identified as
"mimesis"—the same term that Aristotle in his Poetics (c. 335 BCE) used
to describe the mode in which drama communicates its story, by virtue of its embodiment by the actor enacting it,
as distinct from "diegesis", or the way in which a narrator may describe it. These "vibrations" passing from the
actor to the audience may not necessarily precipitate into significant elements as such (that is, consciously
perceived "meanings"), but rather may operate by means of the circulation of "affects".

The approach to acting adopted by other theatre practitioners involve varying degrees of concern with the
semiotics of acting. Konstantin Stanislavski, for example, addresses the ways in which an actor, building on what
he calls the "experiencing" of a role, should also shape and adjust a performance in order to support the overall
significance of the drama—a process that he calls establishing the "perspective of the role". The semiotics of
acting plays a far more central role in Bertolt Brecht's epic theatre, in which an actor is concerned to bring out
clearly the socio historical significance of behaviour and action by means of specific performance choices—a
process that he describes as establishing the "not/but" element in a performed physical "gestus" within context of
the play's overal "Fabel". Eugenio Barba argues that actors ought not to concern themselves with the significance
of their performance behaviour; this aspect is the responsibility, he claims, of the director, who weaves the
signifying elements of an actor's performance into the director's dramaturgical "montage".

The theatre semiotician Patrice Pavis, alluding to the contrast between Stanislavski's 'system' and Brecht's
demonstrating performer—and, beyond that, to Denis Diderot's foundational essay on the art of acting, Paradox
of the Actor (c. 1770–78)—argues that:

Acting was long seen in terms of the actor's sincerity or hypocrisy—should he believe in what he is
saying and be moved by it, or should he distance himself and convey his role in a detached
manner? The answer varies according to how one sees the effect to be produced in the audience
and the social function of theatre.[12]

Elements of a semiotics of acting include the actor's gestures, facial expressions, intonation and other vocal
qualities, rhythm, and the ways in which these aspects of an individual performance relate to the drama and the
theatrical event (or film, television programme, or radio broadcast, each of which involves different semiotic
systems) considered as a whole.[12] A semiotics of acting recognises that all forms of acting involve conventions
and codes by means of which performance behaviour acquires significance—including those approaches, such
as Stanislvaski's or the closely related method acting developed in the United States, that offer themselves as "a
natural kind of acting that can do without conventions and be received as self-evident and universal."[12] Pavis
goes on to argue that:

Any acting is based on a codified system (even if the audience does not see it as such) of behaviour
and actions that are considered to be believable and realistic or artificial and theatrical. To advocate
the natural, the spontaneous, and the instinctive is only to attempt to produce natural effects,
governed by an ideological code that determines, at a particular historical time, and for a given
audience, what is natural and believable and what is declamatory and theatrical.[12]

The conventions that govern acting in general are related to structured forms of play, which involve, in each
specific experience, "rules of the game."[13] This aspect was first explored by Johan Huizinga (in Homo Ludens,
1938) and Roger Caillois (in Man, Play and Games, 1958).[14] Caillois, for example, distinguishes four aspects of
play relevant to acting: mimesis (simulation), agon (conflict or competition), alea (chance), and ilinx (vertigo, or
"vertiginous psychological situations" involving the spectator's identification or catharsis).[13] This connection with

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play as an activity was first proposed by Aristotle in his Poetics, in which he defines the desire to imitate in play
as an essential part of being human and our first means of learning as children:

For it is an instinct of human beings, from childhood, to engage in mimesis (indeed, this
distinguishes them from other animals: man is the most mimetic of all, and it is through mimesis that
he develops his earliest understanding); and equally natural that everyone enjoys mimetic objects.
(IV, 1448b)[15]

This connection with play also informed the words used in English (as was the analogous case in many other
European languages) for drama: the word "play" or "game" (translating the Anglo-Saxon plèga or Latin ludus)
was the standard term used until William Shakespeare's time for a dramatic entertainment—just as its creator
was a "play-maker" rather than a "dramatist", the person acting was known as a "player", and, when in the
Elizabethan era specific buildings for acting were built, they was known as "play-houses" rather than
"theatres."[16]

Resumes and auditions [ edit ]

Actors and actresses need to make a resume when applying for roles. The acting resume is very different from a
normal resume; it is generally shorter, with lists instead of paragraphs, and it should have a head shot on the
back.[17] Sometimes, a resume also contains a short 30 second to 1 minute reel displaying the actors ability's, so
that the casting director can see your previous performances, if any. An actors resume should list projects they
have acted in before such as plays, movies, or shows, as well as special skills and their contact information.[18]

Auditioning is the act of performing either a monologue or sides (lines for one character)[19] as sent by the casting
director. Auditioning entails showing the actor's skills to present themselves as a different person; it may be as
brief as two minutes. For theater auditions it can be longer than two minutes, or they may perform more than one
monologue, as each casting director can have different requirements for actors. Actors should go to auditions
dressed for the part, to make it easier for the casting director to visualize them as the character. For television or
film they will have to undergo more than one audition. Oftentimes actors are called into another audition at the
last minute, and are sent the sides either that morning or the night before. Auditioning can be a stressful part of
acting, especially if one has not been trained to audition.

Rehearsal [ edit ]

Rehearsal is a process in which actors prepare and practice a performance, exploring the vicissitudes of conflict
between characters, testing specific actions in the scene, and finding means to convey a particular sense. Some
actors continue to rehearse a scene throughout the run of a show in order to keep the scene fresh in their minds
and exciting for the audience.[20]

Audience [ edit ]

A critical audience with evaluative spectators is known to induce stress on actors during performance,[21] (see
Bode & Brutten). Being in front of an audience sharing a story will makes the actors intensely vulnerable.
Shockingly, an actor will typically rate the quality of their performance higher than their spectators.[11] Heart rates
are generally always higher during a performance with an audience when compared to rehearsal, however what's
interesting is that this audience also seems to induce a higher quality of performance. Simply put, while public
performances cause extremely high stress levels in actors (more so amateur ones), the stress actually improves
the performance, supporting the idea of "positive stress in challenging situations"[22]

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Heart rate [ edit ]

Depending on what an actor is doing, his or her heart rate will vary. This is the body's way of responding to
stress. Prior to a show one will see an increase in heart rate due to anxiety. While performing an actor has an
increased sense of exposure which will increase performance anxiety and the associated physiological arousal,
such as heart rate.[23] Heart rates increases more during shows compared to rehearsals because of the
increased pressure, which is due to the fact that a performance has a potentially greater impact on an actors
career.[23] After the show a decrease in the heart rate due to the conclusion of the stress inducing activity can be
seen. Often the heart rate will return to normal after the show or performance is done;[24] however, during the
applause after the performance there is a rapid spike in heart rate.[25] This can be seen not only in actors but also
with public speaking and musicians.[24]

Stress [ edit ]

There is a correlation between heart-rate and stress when actors' are

performing in front of an audience. Actors claim that having an audience
has no change in their stress level, but as soon as they come on stage
their heart-rate rises quickly.[26] A 2017 study done in an American
University looking at actors' stress by measuring heart-rate showed
individual heart-rates rose right before the performance began for those
actors opening. There are many factors that can add to an actors' stress.
For example, length of monologues, experience level, and actions done Sam Gibbs and Su Thomas
on stage including moving the set. Throughout the performance heart- Hendrickson in Oresteia by Aeschylus,
adapted by Ryan Castalia for Stairwell
rate rises the most before an actor is speaking. The stress and thus
Theater, 2019
heart-rate of the actor then drops significantly at the end of a monologue,
big action scene, or performance.[9]

See also [ edit ]

Biomechanics
Meisner technique
Method acting
Presentational and representational acting
Stanislavski's system
Viewpoints
Lists of actors

References [ edit ]

1. ^ Csapo and Slater (1994, 257); hypokrisis, which literally means "acting," was the word used in discussions of
rhetorical delivery.
2. ^ Zuardi; Crippa; Gorayeb (2012). "Human experimental anxiety: actual public speaking induces more intense
physiological responses than simulated public speaking" . Sci Elo Brazil. 35 (3): 248–253. doi:10.1590/1516-4446-
2012-0930 . PMID 24142085 .
3. ^ Mesri, Bita; Niles, Andrea; Pittig, Andre; LeBeau, Richard; Haik, Ethan; Craske, Michelle (2017). "Public speaking
avoidance as a treatment moderator for social anxiety disorder" . Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental
Psychiatry. 55: 66–72. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.11.010 . PMC 5315620 . PMID 27915159 .

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 4. ^ Gyurak, Anett; Gross, James; Etkin, Amit (2012). "Explicit and Implicit Emotion Regulation: A Dual-Process
Framework" . Cogn Emot. 3 (25): 400–412. doi:10.1080/02699931.2010.544160 . PMC 3280343 .
PMID 21432682 .
5. ^ Sonia, Lupien; McEwen, Bruce; Gunnar, Megan; Hein, Christine (2009). "Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on
the brain, behaviour and cognition". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 10 (6): 434–445. doi:10.1038/nrn2639 .
PMID 19401723 . S2CID 205504945 .
6. ^ Benedetti (1999, 203) and Magarshack (1950, 320).
7. ^ Benedetti (1999, 203-204) and Magarshack (1950, 320-321).
8. ^ Benedetti (1999, 204) and Magarshack (1950, 320-322, 332-333).
9. ^ a b Baldwin, Clevenger, T (1980). "Effect of Speakers' Sex and size of audience on heart-rate changes during short
impromptu speeches". Psychological Reports. 46 (1): 123–130. doi:10.2466/pr0.1980.46.1.123 . PMID 7367532 .
S2CID 20025236 .
10. ^ Lacey (1995). "Coronary vasoconstriction induced by mental stress (simulated public speaking)". The American
Journal of Cardiology. 75 (7): 503–505. doi:10.1016/s0002-9149(99)80590-6 . PMID 7863998 .
11. ^ a b Konijin, Elly A. (1991). "What's on between the actor and his audience? Empirical Analysis of emotion processes
in the theatre" . In Wilson, Glenn D. (ed.). Psychology and Performing Arts. Swets & Zeitlinger. ISBN 978-
0312653163.
12. ^ a b c d Pavis (1998, 7).
13. ^ a b Pavis (1998, 8-9).
14. ^ Pavis (1998, 8).
15. ^ Halliwell (1995, 37).
16. ^ Wickham (1959, 32—41; 1969, 133; 1981, 68—69). The sense of the creator of plays as a "maker" rather than a
"writer" is preserved in the word "playwright." The Theatre, one of the first purpose-built playhouses in London, was "a
self-conscious latinism to describe one particular playhouse" rather than a term for the buildings in general (1967,
133). The word 'dramatist' "was at that time still unknown in the English language" (1981, 68).
17. ^ "How To Make An Acting Resume That Works For You" . Daily Actor. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
18. ^ Kantilaftis, Helen (27 August 2015). "How to Make An Actor Demo Reel" . Student Resources. Retrieved
30 January 2021.
19. ^ "What Are the Sides for Acting Auditions? (Showbiz Term of the Day)" . www.youryoungactor.com. Retrieved
16 November 2017.
20. ^ "Rehearsal" .
21. ^ Bode, D; Brutten, E (1963). "A palmar sweat investigation of the effect of audience variation upon stage fright".
Speech Monographs. 30 (2): 92–96. doi:10.1080/03637756309375363 .
22. ^ Richard S. Lazarus; Susan Folkman (15 March 1984). stress, appraisial and coping. New York Springer.
23. ^ a b Yoshie, M (2009). "Music performance anxiety in skilled pianists: effects of social-evaluative performance
situation on subjective, autonomic, and electromyographic reactions". Exp Brain Res. 199 (2): 117–26.
doi:10.1007/s00221-009-1979-y . PMID 19701628 . S2CID 12759663 .
24. ^ a b Wells, Ruth (4 October 2012). "Matter Over Mind: A Randomised-Controlled Trial of Single-Session Biofeedback
Training on Performance Anxiety and Heart Rate Variability in Musicians" . PLOS ONE. 7 (10): e46597.
Bibcode:2012PLoSO...746597W . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046597 . PMC 3464298 . PMID 23056361 .
25. ^ McKinney, Mark (1983). "The Effects of Audience Size on High and Low Speech-Anxious Subjects During an Actual
Speaking Taks". Basic and Applied Social Psychology. 4 (1): 73–87. doi:10.1207/s15324834basp0401_6 .
26. ^ Konijin, Elly A. What's on Between The Actor and His Audience. p. 65.

Sources [ edit ]

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New York: Theatre Arts, 1987. ISBN 0-878-30000-7. Revised edition. Original edition published in 1988.
London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-52520-1.

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 Brustein, Robert. 2005. Letters to a Young Actor New
York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00806-2.
Csapo, Eric, and William J. Slater. 1994. The Context of
Ancient Drama. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
ISBN 0-472-08275-2.
Elam, Keir. 1980. The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama.
New Accents Ser. London and New York: Methuen.
ISBN 0-416-72060-9.
Hagen, Uta and Haskel Frankel. 1973. Respect for Acting.
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Halliwell, Stephen, ed. and trans. 1995. Aristotle Poetics.
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MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-99563-5.
Hodge, Alison, ed. 2000. Twentieth Century Actor
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Magarshack, David. 1950. Stanislavsky: A Life. London
and Boston: Faber, 1986. ISBN 0-571-13791-1.
Meisner, Sanford, and Dennis Longwell. 1987. Sanford
Meisner on Acting. New York: Vintage. ISBN 978-0-394-
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External links [ edit ]
Collection: "History of Acting: Gestural Acting and Realism"
Categories: Acting Role-playing
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Pavis, Patrice. 1998. Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms,
Concepts, and Analysis. Trans. Christine Shantz. Toronto
and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.
ISBN 0802081630.
Stanislavski, Konstantin. 1938. An Actor's Work: A
Student's Diary. Trans. and ed. Jean Benedetti. London
and New York: Routledge, 2008. ISBN 0-415-42223-X.
Stanislavski, Konstantin. 1957. An Actor's Work on a
Role. Trans. and ed. Jean Benedetti. London and New
York: Routledge, 2010. ISBN 0-415-46129-4.
Wickham, Glynne. 1959. Early English Stages: 1300—
1660. Vol. 1. London: Routledge.
Wickham, Glynne. 1969. Shakespeare's Dramatic
Heritage: Collected Studies in Mediaeval, Tudor and
Shakespearean Drama. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-710-
06069-6.
Wickham, Glynne. 1981. Early English Stages: 1300—
1660. Vol. 3. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-710-00218-1.
Zarrilli, Phillip B., ed. 2002. Acting (Re)Considered: A
Theoretical and Practical Guide. Worlds of Performance
Ser. 2nd edition. London and New York: Routledge.
ISBN 0-415-26300-X.
from the University of Michigan Museum of Art
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