Resources for Realism

Recently a friend asked me what the difference was between emotional recall and sensory memory. This was an interesting one for me to answer, as ultimately they are the same thing but rooted in the ideologies of two different theorists – Stanislavsky and Strasberg. This got me thinking that for many people out there the sea of theorists that focus on realism or naturalism is vast and a hard one to navigate, particularly if you a looking for a focus for your teaching or a focus for your solo presentation, and realism is your favourite style.

To help you all out, this blog will provide a load of resources that will help you learn all about it for yourself, help you choose exercises you can use in your own teaching or devising work (or solo theatre presentation) and will open the door to some people you may not currently be familiar with.

We’ll get started with Lee Strasberg and method acting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPrWqozFkG8

Next it will be quite useful to watch a few actors that used this acting style. Please see videos below: Marlon Brando on acting and why Marlon Brando’s acting was the best ever!

The Meisner technique is something that you will come across while you are doing your research, so here is an overview followed by an commentary and overview of the technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6EutS6l6rw

Lastly here is a video where Stella Adler talks about using imagination in acting.

And finally, The Method versus Meisner, so that you can compare things for yourselves.

I hope you find these useful, and will give you all food for thought when you start to work on realism.