Archaeology of an acting style

Abstract

This article argues that different acting techniques depend on different theories of the 'subject', and that consequently, every theory of acting is also a theory of subjectivity. Recent Oscar-winning performances emphasize roles where the actor must play someone supposedly incomplete, handicapped, in other words not 'an entirely autonomous' subject. However, it is argued that the acting technique used to realize these parts is in fact a decidedly humanist one, dependent on the early 20th-century theories of Konstantin Stanislavski. An early text of Stanislavski's is analysed closely to reveal its humanist presuppositions, and then contrasted with acting theories which are anti-humanist, particularly those of Bertolt Brecht, who is responsible for the Verfremdungseffekt.