Acting style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Acting style - Essay Example An acting style is the way a play is presented or the way an actor portrays his character. Â  It can refer to quite a few different things - like period acting (roles that take place in a different earlier, era, place or society), or stylized acting (such as the very specific styles used Restoration comedies etc.), or it may refer to verse acting (such as Shakespeare), or proper classical acting (such as ancient Greek plays), or to the early "declaiming" acting (a very stiff, presentational style directly aimed toward the audience), or to modern-day acting (such as we see today in contemporary comedy and drama where actors act realistically). Â  Two major classifications of acting style can be made as presentational and representational. Where representational refers to modern realistic acting and representational refers to the more formal or exaggerated acting styles of old (Kernodle) In 1971, Alan Schneider directed an historic video taped performance of Samuel Becketts Krapps Last Tape, starring Jack MacGowran. The play dramatized an old mans struggle to repossess his youth by searching through reels of audiotape. The style of acting adopted by MacGowarn is simple and realistic as is characteristic in contemporary cinema. He conveys the old mans age and disability (he is nearly half-blind) through body movements and literally no dialogue at all. There are no other actors and the only props are a single table and chair in an otherwise empty room. The film is totally focused on the old man and his every expression. MacGrowan uses his facial and subtle body movements to convey his infirmity and even the joy and difficulty at eating a banana is emoted with great ability and expression in total silence. In 1964 Camera Three, New York, NY produced a short film featuring James Cahill, John Heffernan & Roy Scheider based on excerpts from Ben Jonsons 17th century comedy of