Method

Method, introspective approach to acting based on the system evolved by Stanislavsky for the actors at the Moscow Art Theatre. It first came into prominence in the USA during the 1930s, when it was adopted by the Group Theatre in its reaction against what were considered the externalizing, stereotyped techniques current on the contemporary New York and London stages. Its notoriety rested mainly on its adoption by the Actors' Studio, founded in 1947 by Elia Kazan and others, later including Lee Strasberg. The Method's aim was to create a character from within by imagination and intuition. The result could be a more lifelike portrayal, with improvised dialogue, hesitations, mumblings, scratchings, and other naturalistic features; but the system could lead to self-absorption, to the exclusion of the audience and even of other actors. It achieved its greatest success in modern American plays, particularly those of Tennessee Williams. The Method is now seen as only one of many valid methods of approaching a part. It is less suited to the classics and probably more appropriate to the cinema, where its supreme exponent was Marlon Brando.