What Is Method Acting?

Method Acting is the name for the American variant of the work of Russian actor/director Constantin Stanislavski.  When Stanislavski's theatre, the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) went on tour to the United States of America, their productions caused a storm with audiences.  Two members of the MXAT, Richard Boleslavski and Maria Ouspenskaya decided to stay behind to build a life in the USA.  They earned their living by teaching Stanislavski's system of acting to American actors at the American Laboratory Theater.

Three Americans were particularly successful in bringing their own take on Stanislavski's acting methodology, they are Lee Strasberg (arguably the most famous/infamous), Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner.  Each had achieved success in their own right but had found themselves together at the Group Theatre, a hugely influential American theatre company that never truly reached its potential.  Strasberg dominated the training of young members of the company and had a particular fixation on the stimulation of truthful emotion in the actor.  

When Adler met Stanislavski in Paris in 1934, she returned with news that they were 'doing it wrong'.  This infuriated Strasberg and caused a deep split within the group.  Strasberg went on to promote and teach his own variant of Stanislavski's work at The Actors' Studio, whilst Adler taught her understanding at her own conservatoire.  Sanford Meisner remained a relative secret within the acting fraternity and his behaviour-based work has only recently come to popularity.  At present, Meisner-based work is the prevalent method taught in drama departments in the USA.