The Evolution of Acting Techniques

A Brief History of Acting Techniques

• The Greeks believed that strong emotions caused illness and created the first system of emotional sign language.
• Thespis was considered the first actor and Quintilian trained orators for the judicial system.
• Romans believed that fake emotion was more artistic than actual emotion and created the first "safe" way to portray emotions.
• Salon was the first theater critic who believed that accepting fake emotions in entertainment would affect every area of our lives, including politics.
• Aaron Hill became the first acting teacher in 1753 and wrote The Art of Acting An Essay, which included using different poses and a mirror to rehearse.
• Delsarte in France developed decomposing exercises, which led to the creation of artificial, melodramatic, and dramatic poses.
• Steel MacKaye took Delsarte's ideas to America and created Delsarte Mania, which included corsets and wooden legs.
• Stanislavski in Russia developed the method of psycho-physical actions and emphasized internal technique with outer technique.
• Meyerhold in Russia eliminated the fourth wall and used constructivism, scenery scaffold, and ranges to identify character action types.
• Strasburg in America continued to develop Method Acting and emphasized purposeful doing and free creativity.
• Each acting technique developed as a reaction to the previous one, with a focus on realism, emotional expression, or social commentary.
• The history of acting techniques shows the evolution of how actors approach their craft, from external focus to internal focus, from artificial to realistic, and from one-dimensional to complex.