Retaining the integrity of a performance is of the utmost importance for any actor. With an actor’s responsibility being to become the character and produce an emotive, realistic performance, the audience is forced to question whether it was a performance at all. Various techniques exist and an increasing number of the acting courses London offers have emerged with the sole objective to train actors and refine their abilities in order to achieve a genuinely convincing performance.

Perhaps one of the most effective techniques to achieve such as realistic performance is Method acting. Originally developed and taught by Lee Strasberg throughout the latter half of the 20th century, Method acting aims for the actor to utilize their own emotional makeup to produce more lifelike performances. It is important for an actor to embody an idea, to sell the story, to make the audience believe in the character. This can hardly be achieved by simply mimicking sobs or laughter, by mechanically reproducing what one might think heartbreak or ecstasy resemble when experienced. Rather than reproducing false emotions, Method acting allows actors to draw from their own emotional wells, remounting them to that point in life when they truly did experience heartbreak and ecstasy. Because method actors provoke and, consequently, evoke their own sincere emotions, the Method can be significantly more intense, taxing actors emotionally and psychologically.

With so much intensity involved with the Method, it is no wonder that some of the best acting courses London offers center their entire acting courses around this form of acting. Most count with experienced instructors who, in some cases, have worked with and trained some of the most respected actors in the industry. These acting courses are specifically developed to aid actors in breaking through emotional blocks so as to help them better understand the motives of the character, even tapping into their psyche. It is not enough to know the progression of the story or even the personal growth or regression of the character. Method actors go as far as to place themselves within the story. True, more often than not, the circumstances actors are meant to perform in are fictional, hypothetical at best. However, reactions and behavior must never seem rehearsed. Method actors analyze not only their character, but themselves and constantly question what their own reactions--if ever placed in the same circumstances--would be. When done correctly, the actor and character--in a sense--find common ground. A fusion of character and self becomes evident on stage, resulting in a performance that holds more truth than acting.

Method acting course have become the starting point for many Academy Award winning actors. The performances of Hollywood greats such as Forest Whittaker and Meryl Streep have proclaimed the efficacy and art of Method acting. Students who are seeking a professional career in acting should consider learning the method and can investigate which of the many acting classes London offers will best train them as they pursue their dream.