Drama acting styles

Realistic acting

Realistic acting is also called naturalistic drama. It is drama which replicates real life and shows the realistic version of it. Stanislavski developed naturalistic acting, as he wanted his actors to become emotionally and psychologically involved with their roles, in order to create a convincing, realistic performance. When preparing for some

naturalistic dramas , actors often spend lengthy periods of time trying to 'live' the role they are playing, in order to create a convincing performance on stage.

Some characteristics are; characters who act and talk like real people, settings that are real and from modern times like homes, workplaces, bars and restaurants, and the subject matter deals with real events and social/political issues.

A dollshouse - deals with losing jobs, unfaithful partners - everyday life problems

Ibsen is wellknown for his realistic playwrights.

Non-realistic acting

Non realistic drama is drama that, in content, presentation, or both, departs markedly from fidelity to the outward appearances of life. Non naturalism (non-realistic acting) in theatre is a way of describing and portraying something that isn't necessarily there. It argues the aspect of reality and pushes another dimension into it, either using space, time, object.

Non-realistic acting means that the actor in no way acts as he would do in real life. It is also called a non-naturalistic style. Since Naturalistic Drama developed so late in thetheatre time-line , however, every form of theatre before it is thus, by definition, Non-naturalistic.

The non-realistic acting styles are seen in the Theatre of the Absurd. Wellknown playwrighters in this genre are Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Eugene Ionescu, Edward Albee and more.

Epic theatre

Theater of Alienation, also called epic theatre or dialectical theater, is an acting style or form of theatre based on the principle of using live performance as a means of social and political commentary.

To prevent melodrama or emotion from overtaking the audience, comic songs and music are often used to provide emotional details. The effect of this practice can be extremely jarring on an audience unused to Theater of Alienation.
It was Berthold Brecht who introduced epic theatre.

Absurdism