The Madness in Me? ... It must be The Method.

Google The Madness in Me? ... It must be The Method.

A little Method history.

For something to have a "the" before another word usually means something hardcore, right?  I mean come on, the plague, the riots, the big bang, the moon and even the pope.  See what I mean?  Let me try and give you a small breakdown of what The Method is and where it began.

Konstantine Stanislavski

The form of acting known as 'The Method' or 'Method Acting' was developed from the work of the Russian actor/director, Konstantine Stanislavski.  I know what you're thinking...cool name right?  Well this guy was pretty serious when it came to acting.   He said "being an actor requires dedication, discipline and integrity..." not something we see very much of in South Africa today, but lets not get into that right now.

Throughout his life Konstantine was involved in a constant process of artistic self-analysis and reflection.  Stanislavski knew that the reality on-stage was different than in real life but he believed that actors could achieve what he called a 'scenic truth', something that would draw the audience in to believing that what was happening on stage was in fact the truth.   He developed techniques that could be used by actors to create believable characters.  The techniques and theories he developed became known as 'The Stanislavski System'. 

To read more about his techniques click here

The Father of Method

The Father of Method:

The Method was created and structured by Lee Strasberg, an American actor/director/teacher who was inspired by the system Stanislavski developed.

He saw The Moscow Art Theater for the first time when Stanislavski brought it to the United States in 1923.  He was amazed at how the actors were able to let go and detach themselves from the ego and give in to their work completely, no matter how big or small the role was.  All the actors seemed to have the same dedication.  Richard Schickel describes Lee's experience: "every actor seemed to project some sort of unspoken, yet palpable, inner life for his or her character. This was acting of a sort that one rarely saw on the American stage ...".

8 Years later, in 1931, he helped to form 'The Group Theater' together with two other directors, Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford.  This group was hailed as "America's first true theatrical group".  The techniques we refer to as The Method were developed during this period.

In 1951 Lee became the director of 'The Actors Studio' which is based in New York and is to this very day still considered one of the nation’s most prestigious acting schools. 

Lee Strasberg is considered to be the father of Method acting and up until his death revolutionized the art of acting for stage and film.  Lee Strasberg trained some of the best actors in the industry with his Method acting techniques including Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Harris, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and director Elia Kazan.