acting

act as

To serve or perform a job or role, often temporarily. Until Kayla returns from her maternity leave, Sharon will act as lead analyst. You will now act as file clerk and benefits coordinator, and your salary will reflect this change.See also: act

act for

1. To be a representative for someone else. Because I have power of attorney for my mother, I can act for her in legal and financial matters when she is no longer able to do so.2. To perform a job or role in place of the person that usually does it. Yes, Kayla usually leads this project, but I am acting for her while she is on maternity leave.See also: act

act (up)on

1. To take action in a situation. The report is due tomorrow, so I need you to act on it immediately. Please act upon this subpoena for records at once.2. To take action that is strongly influenced by certain information or advice. ("Upon" is most commonly used to convey this meaning.) Acting upon my doctor's orders, I cleared my schedule and spent the week recuperating at home. A; "I can't believe he said that about us!" B: "Well, he's probably just acting on his mother's instruction, and that woman hates us."3. To impact in some way. The barking dogs next door are acting on my patience.See also: act

act out

1. To behave poorly or inappropriately, especially considering one's age. My son is always so happy at home, so I can't understand why he's suddenly acting out at school. You're in middle school now, so if you act out in class, you will be sent to the principal's office.2. To perform a role, often an imaginary one (as in a play). Jennifer did a superb job acting out the role of Auntie Mame in the play. I don't want to upset my mom during the holidays, so I am acting out the part of dutiful daughter.3. To express one's negative feelings, usually to another person. I got tired of Mark constantly acting out his anger out on me, so I ended our relationship.4. To communicate through actions or gestures instead of words. Henry was suffering from a severe case of laryngitis and had lost his voice, so he had to act out his thoughts during the meeting. There's no talking in this game—you have to act out the movie you're assigned, and we will try to guess it.See also: act, out

act the fool

1. To behave comically or playfully, often to amuse others. If you continue to act the fool, you're going to have to leave the classroom. Joe never acts the fool—he's always serious.2. To behave irresponsibly or immaturely, especially in an environment where it is especially inappropriate. Don't let me catch any of you kids acting the fool at the museum—it's a privilege to even go inside. We finally get invited to a nice dinner party and you have to go and act the fool—what's wrong with you?See also: act, fool

act the goat

To behave comically or playfully, often to amuse others. Joe never acts the goat—he's always serious. If you continue to act the goat, you're going to have to leave the classroom.See also: act, goat

act up

1. Of a person, to behave poorly or inappropriately. If you act up in class, you will be sent to the principal's office.2. Of a thing, to malfunction or operate incorrectly. My car's transmission started acting up during my commute to work. My phone acted up again this morning; I think I need to take it to a professional.3. Of a medical condition, to become problematic or troublesome, usually after a period of remission. Jake played football with his friends today, and now his old knee injury is acting up. It's springtime, so of course my allergies are acting up again.See also: act, up

act shoulder to shoulder

To act together, side by side, in cooperation of a shared goal or purpose. If we all act shoulder to shoulder, there's a chance we'll be able to get this legislation repealed.See also: act, shoulder

act the maggot

1. To behave comically or playfully, often to amuse others. Primarily heard in Ireland. If you continue to act the maggot, you're going to have to leave the classroom. Joe never acts the maggot—he's always so serious.2. To behave irresponsibly or immaturely, especially in an environment where it is especially inappropriate. Primarily heard in Ireland. Don't let me catch any of you kids acting the maggot at the funeral. We finally get invited to a nice dinner party and you have to go and act the maggot—what's wrong with you?See also: act, maggot

act as someone

to perform in the capacity of someone, temporarily or permanently; to serve in some special capacity, possibly temporarily. This is Mr. Smith. He'll act as manager from now on.See also: act

act for someone

1. to represent someone in an official capacity; to represent the interests of someone. Don't worry. I am acting for the owner. I am his real estate agent. 2. to take action when the proper person fails to take action. I had to act for her since she was out of town.See also: act

act Out

to behave badly. (Usually used to describe young people.) Your son has been acting out in the classroom, and his teacher feels that professional intervention is desirable.See also: act, out

act something out

1. to perform in real life a role that one has imagined in a fantasy. When I was onstage, I was really acting an old fantasy out. I acted out an old fantasy onstage. 2. to convert one's bad feelings into action rather than words. Don't act your aggressions out on me! She acted out her aggression. 3. to demonstrate or communicate something through gestures or action rather than words. Act your request out, if you can't say it. She had a sore throat and had to act out her request.See also: act, out

act up

[for a thing or a person] to behave badly. This car is acting up again.See also: act, up

act out

1. Perform or portray something or someone, as in As she read to the class, the teacher had each child act out a different character in the story . [c. 1600] 2. Express unconscious feelings or impulses through one's behavior, without being aware of it. For example, She acted out her anger at her father by screaming at her husband. This meaning comes from 20th-century psychological theory and usually (but not always) refers to negative or hostile impulses and emotions. The term is sometimes used without an object to mean "misbehave" or "behave disruptively," as in The child is acting out in class. [First half of 1900s] In both usages, out means "openly" or "publicly." See also: act, out

act up

1. Misbehave. For example, With an inexperienced rider, this horse always acts up. [c. 1900] 2. Malfunction, as in I'm not sure what's wrong with my car, but the transmission is acting up. In both usages up means "abnormally." See also: act, up

act the goat

BRITISH, INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONEDIf someone acts the goat, they behave in a silly way. A bunch of football fans were acting the goat and we moved to get away from them. Note: Goats are often associated with unpredictable behaviour. See also: act, goat

act the maggot

behave in a foolishly playful way. Irish informalSee also: act, maggot

act out

v.1. To communicate something through actions rather than words: In a game of charades, you describe words by acting them out. One comedian acted out simple phrases, and the other one tried to guess what they were.2. To play some role: The first graders acted out the roles of the villagers in the school play.3. To fulfill some role: Though they no longer trusted him, they continued to act out their parts as good wife and daughter.4. To express some feeling or emotion behaviorally, especially unconsciously: I understand why you're angry, but I don't like the way you're acting out your aggression toward me.5. To demonstrate bad behavior or negative feelings: The student was upset after losing the game and began to act out in class.See also: act, out

act up

v.1. To misbehave: The driver stopped the school bus because the kids were acting up.2. To cause problems by operating strangely or unexpectedly: The thermostat suddenly started acting up, and now it's always too hot or too cold in here.3. To become active or troublesome after a period of operating normally: My knee starts acting up when the weather is cold.See also: act, up

acting

acting,

the representation of a usually fictional character on stage or in films. At its highest levels of accomplishment acting involves the employment of technique and/or an imaginative identification with the character on the part of the actor. In this way the full emotional weight of situations on stage be communicated to the audience. The actor must be a sharp observer of life and thoroughly trained in voice projection and enunciation and in body movement.

Evolution of Acting

In the ancient Greek theater, acting was stylized; indeed, the large outdoor theaters made subtlety of speech and gesture impossible. The actors, all men, wore comic and tragic masks and were costumed grotesquely, wearing padded clothes and, often, artificial phalluses. Nevertheless, there were advocates of naturalistic acting even at that time, and actors were held in high esteem. In the Roman period actors were slaves, and the level of performance was low, broad farce being the most popular dramatic form. The tragedies of SenecaSeneca,
the younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) , c.3 B.C.–A.D. 65, Roman philosopher, dramatist, and statesman, b. Corduba (present-day Córdoba), Spain. He was the son of Seneca the elder.
..... Click the link for more information. were probably read in declamatory style, rather than acted on stage.

During the Christian period in Rome, acting almost disappeared, the tradition being upheld by traveling mimes, jugglers, and acrobats who entertained at fairs. In religious drama of the Middle Ages, an actor's every gesture and intonation was carefully designated for performance in church, and, as with the later pageants under the auspices of the trade guilds, the actors were amateurs.

Modern professional acting began in the 16th cent. with the Italian commedia dell'artecommedia dell'arte
, popular form of comedy employing improvised dialogue and masked characters that flourished in Italy from the 16th to the 18th cent. Characters of the Commedia Dell'Arte
..... Click the link for more information. , whose actors improvised convincing and entertaining situations from general outlines. During the Restoration period in England, Thomas BettertonBetterton, Thomas
, 1635?–1710, English actor and manager. He joined Sir William D'Avenant's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields theater in 1661 and became the leading actor of the Restoration stage, the theatrical leader of his time.
..... Click the link for more information. and his wife Mary were famous for their naturalness of delivery, as was Edward Kynaston. Their contemporaries, Charles Hart, Barton Booth, and James QuinQuin, James,
1693–1766, English actor. He made his London debut in 1714. The successor of Barton Booth, he was the last of the declamatory school. At his best in declaiming the great tragic roles, Quin was in constant rivalry with the young Garrick until Quin left the
..... Click the link for more information. , however, were well known for their lofty, heroic acting, a style that became dominant in the first third of the 18th cent. In the mid-18th cent. Charles MacklinMacklin, Charles
, 1697?–1797, English actor and dramatist, whose original name was Charles McLaughlin, b. Ireland. He began his career as a strolling player. His style of acting was radically different from the prevailing declamatory style of James Quin and Barton Booth.
..... Click the link for more information. and his pupil David GarrickGarrick, David,
1717–79, English actor, manager, and dramatist. He was indisputably the greatest English actor of the 18th cent., and his friendships with Diderot, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, and other notables who made up "The Club" resulted in detailed records of
..... Click the link for more information. introduced a more naturalistic style, and similar movements took place in France and Germany.

The old declamatory method did not really die out until the early 20th cent., and such great 18th- and 19th-century actors as Lekain, Sarah SiddonsSiddons, Sarah Kemble,
1755–1831, English actress. The most distinguished of the famous Kemble family, she had early theatrical experience in her father's traveling company, and at 18 she married William Siddons, an actor.
..... Click the link for more information. , Edmund KeanKean, Edmund,
1787?–1833, English actor. Kean's acting expressed the ideal of the romantic temperament. A small man with a wild spirit and a gruff voice, he was lauded for his facial mobility; according to Coleridge he had the power to reveal Shakespeare by "flashes of
..... Click the link for more information. , and Junius Brutus BoothBooth, Junius Brutus,
1796–1852, Anglo-American actor. After experience in the provinces, he appeared at Covent Garden. In 1817, with his portrayal of Richard III, he established himself as a rival of Edmund Kean.
..... Click the link for more information. would probably seem overly histrionic to modern audiences. Part of the reason for the persistence of bombastic acting was the star system that existed until high standards of ensemble playing—common in popular repertory theaters since at least Shakespeare's time—were set by the Meiningen PlayersMeiningen Players,
German theatrical company that toured Europe from 1874 to 1890. The group, inspiring theatrical reforms wherever it performed, was a major influence in the movement toward modern theater.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1874. Important late 19th-century actors, varying considerably in the naturalism of their acting styles, were Edwin BoothBooth, Edwin,
1833–93, one of the first great American actors and the most famous of his era, b. "Tudor Hall," near Bel Air, Md. After years of touring with his father, Junius Brutus Booth, serving his theatrical apprenticeship, he appeared in New York City (1857) and
..... Click the link for more information. , Dame Ellen TerryTerry, Dame Ellen Alicia,
1848–1928, English actress. Of a prominent theatrical family, she made her debut at nine as Mamillius in Charles Kean's production of The Winter's Tale. She played juvenile roles until her unsuccessful marriage, at 16, to G. F.
..... Click the link for more information. , Henry IrvingIrving, Sir Henry,
1838–1905, English actor and theatrical manager, originally named John Henry Brodribb. He made his debut in 1856 and achieved fame in 1871 with his portrayal of Mathias in Leopold Lewis's The Bells, a role he often repeated.
..... Click the link for more information. , Eleanora DuseDuse, Eleonora
, 1859–1924, Italian actress. From a theatrical family, she made a successful appearance at 14 as Juliet and in 1879 gained recognition in Emilé Zola's Thérèse Raquin.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Sarah BernhardtBernhardt, Sarah
, 1844–1923, stage name of Rosine Bernard, French actress, b. Paris. At age 13 she entered the Paris Conservatory, and later attracted attention during appearances at the Odéon (1866–72).
..... Click the link for more information. .

Acting in the Twentieth Century

Acting in the 20th cent. has been greatly influenced by the theories of the Russian director Constantin StanislavskyStanislavsky, Constantin
, 1863–1938, Russian theatrical director, teacher, and actor, whose original name was Constantin Sergeyevich Alekseyev. He was cofounder with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko of the Moscow Art Theater in 1898, which he would remain associated with for
..... Click the link for more information. . An advocate of ensemble playing, he believed that an actor must strive for absolute psychological identification with the character being portrayed and that this identification is at least as important as mastery of voice projection or body movement. Stanislavsky's theories were popularized in the United States by the Group TheatreGroup Theatre,
organization formed in New York City in 1931 by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg. Its founders, who had worked earlier with the Provincetown Players, wished to revive and redefine American theater by establishing a permanent company to present
..... Click the link for more information. and later by Lee StrasbergStrasberg, Lee
, 1901–82, American theatrical director, teacher, and actor, b. Budzanów, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Budaniv, Ukraine) as Israel Strassberg. Strasberg immigrated to New York City in 1909. He was a cofounder in 1931 of the Group Theatre.
..... Click the link for more information. at the Actors' Studio, which produced a generation of extremely naturalistic actors, notably Marlon BrandoBrando, Marlon,
1924–2004, American film actor, often described as the greatest of his generation, b. Omaha, Nebr. Regarded as the foremost practitioner of "method" acting as taught by American disciples of Constantin Stanislavsky at New York's Actor's Studio (he studied
..... Click the link for more information. . The emergence of motion pictures and television has offered unprecedented opportunities and challenges for actors, the sensitivity of camera and microphone making subtlety of voice, expression, and movement absolutely essential.

Bibliography

See T. Cole, ed., Acting: A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method (1955); C. Stanislavski, Building a Character (tr. 1962) and An Actor Prepares (tr. 1963); J. A. Hammerton, ed., The Actor's Art (1969); T. Cole and H. K. Chinov, ed., Actors on Acting (rev. ed. 1970); J. Grotowski, Towards a Poor Theatre (1970); T. Guthrie, Tyrone Guthrie on Acting (1971); M. Billington, The Modern Actor (1973); W. Worthen, The Idea of the Actor (1984); S. Mast, Stages of Identity (1985); J. H. Astington, Actors and Acting in Shakespeare's Time (2010).

Acting

the art of theatrical performance, the creation of characters on stage. The specific artistic nature of theater—the reflection of life through dramatic action taking place directly before viewers—can be realized only by means of acting. Its goal is to act upon the viewer, to elicit a reaction in him. The performance before the viewer is the most important and conclusive act in the realization of the role, and each performance demands the reproduction of this process.

The actor’s artistry is derived from the elements of drama—its content, genre, and style, for example—which form the ideological and semantic basis of acting. However, there are also types of theater, such as the folk comedy of masks, where the actor does not have the full text of the play available to him but only its dramatic outline (scenario) which underlies his improvisation. Moreover, in musical theater, such as ballet, opera, and operetta, the acting is defined by the libretto and the musical score.

The actor’s creation is convincing and aesthetically valuable not just in itself but also to the extent to which it develops the main action of the drama and makes clear its general meaning and ideological direction. Each performer in a play is therefore closely connected to his fellow actors, taking part with them in the creation of that artistic whole which is the theatrical performance. Drama at times presents the actor with very complex demands, which he must fulfill as both an independent artist and a representative of a specific character. When he puts himself into the dramatic situation of the play and the role, the actor resolves the problem of character creation through theatrical transformation. In this respect acting is the only art form in which the artist’s own nature, his intellectual and emotional apparatus as well as his outward appearance, serves as raw material.

The art of the actor, who is aided by makeup and costume (in several types of theater by masks), encompasses the mastery of speech (in opera, vocal art), movement, gesture (in ballet and the dance), and mimicry. The most important elements of acting include attention, imagination, emotional and motor memory, the ability to relate to others on stage, and a feeling for rhythm.

The historical development of acting presents a complex picture of the search for artistic truth within developing and conflicting systems and trends. Having developed its primary elements from the communal ceremonies of primitive societies, acting survived its ties with cult rituals. This was true in ancient Greece during the formation of the democratic city-states in the fifth century B.C., when acting broke with the practice of religious cults. This schism became a prerequisite for the rise of theater and the art of acting in the true sense of the word. In ancient Greek theater the styles for performing tragedy and comedy were sharply delineated: the former utilized a majestic style with declamations leading to song and plastic movements containing elements of the dance; the latter was characterized by a grotesque, exaggerated, and deliberately degraded style. In both tragedy and comedy the actors wore masks. In ancient Rome the genre of pantomime arose; however, acting during the imperial period went into decline, and only wandering folk actors (mimes) maintained the traditional elements of theater up to the Middle Ages.

Medieval acting existed as a semiprofessional folk art spread by wandering actors (histrionists, buffoons). Condemned by the church for its anticlerical, satirical, and rebellious character, acting was at the same time assimilated into the genres of spiritual and moralistic performances which, however, displayed ever more insistently and broadly the comical and spontaneously realistic fundamentals of folk art. Folk art developed freely in the farce, a genre whose major acting techniques are caricature, a brisk, lively tempo of performance, buffoonery, the exaggerated expression of gestures and mimicry, and improvisation. The height of this form of folk street theater was achieved by the Italian comedy of masks (commedia dell’arte) in which acting expressed the force of satirical generalization, popular optimism, pageantry, and dynamism as well as lyricism and poetic flights. It proved to have a fruitful influence on the development of original national styles of acting during the Renaissance in Spain, France, England, and other countries.

The appearance of literary Renaissance drama made new demands on acting; it transformed to a significant degree the traditions of folk theater and faced the actors with the problem of expressing great ideas and creating individualized, psychologically complex characters. The most prominent representative of Renaissance realism in acting, combining brilliance and depth of feeling and thought with fidelity to nature and humanism, was Shakespeare.

Acting flowered again during the 17th and 18th centuries with French classicism, which subordinated the theater to the service of state interests. At that time the elements of acting were defined by the preaching of the civic spirit and by the restraint of individual passions in tragedy and the sharp ridicule of vices in comedy. Classicism brought to acting its notion of beauty as the ideal; thus, the expression of feelings was placed under the strict control of reason and good taste, speech and movement were subordinated to the laws of declamation, thereby guarding against the intrusion of mundane and primarily emotional elements into the actor’s performance (the art of the French actors Montdory, T. Du Parc, and others), and the performance was presented as an artistic whole strictly organized on decoratively plastic and declamationally poetic principles.

During the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment acting grew increasingly interested in personality; the ideal of the “natural man” was advanced, and feeling became the guide to the principle of social equality. The influence of reason and rationalism although defended by D. Diderot (Paradoxe sur le comédien, 1770–73), who urged actors to reproduce the images their imaginations had created while trying to merge fidelity to nature and social ideals, was increasingly displaced by spontaneity, in-depth character portrayals, and emotional intensity (for example, the work of the tragic actress M. Dumesnil). Acting, helped by bourgeois drama with its defense of the simple man, approached the essence of private, family life. In tragedy, acting began to follow an antityrannical, democratic direction, and the traditional classical division into “high” and “low” styles of performance was obliterated. The presentation of the human character became deeper and more complex, thereby presenting the actor with the problem of character transformation on stage for the first time.

During the first decade of the 19th century the development of romanticism (a movement founded on the liberating rebellion of dissatisfied democratic masses against the bourgeois revolution) led to a period in which acting was dominated by impulsive, stormy emotionalism, inspiration and fantasy, and a cult of brilliant creative individualism. Actors (E. Kean in England, Frédérick Lemaître in France, P. Mochalov in Russia, and others) created characters which embodied the spirit of protest against bourgeois norms as well the contrasts of tragedy and comedy, de-monism and lyricism, living truth and the grotesque. Acting during the romantic period showed the influence of democratic philosophy, sympathized with the sufferings of simple people, and employed elements of social satire.

Romantic acting in many ways prepared for the realism which dominated the European stage in the second half of the 19th century (the art of T. Salvini and E. Duse in Italy, Sarah Bernhardt in France, and others). Realistic drama demanded that acting expose the regularity of societal development and interpret the character within the context of his social environment and time. The realistic school of acting, having conquered the subjectivism of the romantics whose interest lay in the exceptional and in exotic, brilliant theatrical characters, achieved psychological unity and a socially moral resolution in its images. Realistic acting attained great ideological force and psychological subtlety in Russia during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, where it developed under the banner of democratic social and political tendencies (the work of M. S. Shchepkin; A. E. Martynov; P. M., M. P., and O. O. Sadovskie; P. A. Strepetova; V. N. Davydov; V. F. Komissarzhevskaia; and others). The turn of the century was marked by experimentation in acting by the free theaters as well as the Moscow Art Theater.

Indeed, it was in the Moscow Art Theater that the theory of K. S. Stanislavsky matured and his method for actor training, which had a tremendous worldwide influence, developed. In the hands of Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko a galaxy of the most prominent actors was educated in the Moscow Art Theater—I. M. Moskvin, V. I. Kachalov, L. M. Leonidov, O. L. Knipper-Chekhova, and others. Realism in acting and the ability of the actor to reproduce the “life of the human spirit” were for Stanislavsky the fundamental values of theatrical art. Stanislavsky continued his innovations in this field with the young actors of the Moscow Art Theater. It was there that the so-called second generation of actors of this school grew up; they included N. P. Khmelev, B. G. Dobronravov, M. I. Prudkin, A. K. Tarasova, K. N. Elanskaia, O. N. Androvskaia, M. M. Ianshin, A. N. Gribov, B. N. Livanov, and others. The work of E. B. Vakhtangov was also closely connected with the workshop of the Moscow Art Theater. Modeled on the aesthetic principles of the Vakhtangov school, the life-affirming art of B. V. Shchukin, R. N. Simonov, Ts. L. Mansurova, V. P. Maretskaia, and others echoed the mood of the times and was especially theatrical in form. The principles of Stanislavsky and Vakhtangov received a distinctive and original interpretation in the sharply grotesque and tragic art of the actors of the second Moscow Art Theater; they were M. A. Chekhov, S. G. Birman, A. D. Dikii, I. N. Bersenev, and S. V. Giatsintova. The second theater was created from the first studio of the Moscow Art Theater. A. Ia. Tairov created a system for training the synthetic actor in the Kamernyi Theater (the art of A. G. Koonen and others), and V. E. Meyerhold called for open bias in his actors, recognizing the necessity for a militant agitational theater. Such actors as M. I. Babanov, I. V. Il’inskii, E. P. Garin, M. M. Shtraukh, L. N. Sverdlin, D. N. Orlov and others matured in this theater.

National schools of acting sprang up in the 1920’s in the theaters of the Uzbek, Tadzhik, Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Tatar Soviet republics, and a great flowering of the art of acting took place in the theaters of the Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Byelorussia. The variety of national performing traditions influenced the formation and development of socialist realism in acting. At the same time the actors of the peoples of the USSR integrated the best traditions of the Russian realistic school. During this time all artistic currents, developing in close interdependence and enriching each other, were manifested in acting. Representatives of various theatrical generations and performing styles appeared on the stage of Soviet theater: from the older generation of the Malyi, the Arts, and the Leningrad academic theaters—for example, A. A. Ostuzhev, P. M. Sadovskii, V. N. Ryzhova, V. N. Pashennaia, V. O. Massalitinova, V. I. Kachalov, I. M. Mockvin, O. L. Knipper-Chekhova, Iu. M. Iur’ev, E. P. Korchagina-Aleksandrovskaia, V. A. Michurina-Samoilova, and I. N. Pevtsov—to the young artists trained during the Soviet period. During the Great Patriotic War acting became to an even greater extent politically provocative, topical, and didactic. Later, this striving for greater philosophical generality, revolutionary zeal, and political agitation became hallmarks of theater during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Characters created by Iu. V. Tolubeev, I. M. Smoktunovskii, Iu. K. Borisova, M. A. Ul’ianov, E. A. Lebedev, S. Iu. Iurskii, T. V. Doronina, E. A. Evstigneev, and others were marked by their ideological depth and artistic maturity.

During the 20th century new principles of theatrical imagery came into use. Concomitant with the stylization inherent in the so-called conventional theater, demands arose for more acuity and crystallization in acting and the strengthening of its agitational and analytical functions (the works of V. E. Meyerhold, B. Brecht). In contemporary Western theater acting has reached a high level of development in the work of J. L. Barrault, J. Vilar, M. Casares, G. Philippe (France), J. Gielgud, V. Leigh, L. Olivier, P. Scofield (England), E. Weigel (GDR) and others. In Eastern countries such as Burma, India, China, Japan, and others, original systems of acting have also evolved.

T. M. RODINA

Acting

Bermagreat actress, whom the narrator sees in her prime and in her decline. [Fr. Lit.: Proust Remembrance of Things Past, in Benét, 99]Meeber, Carriesmall-town girl finds work on chorus line and matures into a successful actress. [Am. Lit.: Sister Carrie in Magill I, 895]Players, theacting troupe employed by Hamlet. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare Hamlet]Thespisfirst individual Greek performer; whence thespian. [Gk. Drama: Espy, 46]Trelawny, Roseyoung actress sees married life as dull and returns to the stage. [Br. Drama: Arthur Wing Pinero Trelawny of the “Wells” in Benét, 1022]Vitus, St.patron saint of actors. [Christian Hagiog.: Brewster, 291]Woffington, Pegmarried and unmarried men admire her stage talents and fall in love with her. [Br. Lit.: Peg Woffington in Magill I, 724]

acting

1. intended for stage performance; provided with directions for actors 2. the art or profession of an actor
www.linksnorth.com/acting
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acting

act·ing

acting

act•ing

acting

acting

act

acting

acting

act as

act for

act (up)on

act out

act the fool

act the goat

act up

act shoulder to shoulder

act the maggot

act as someone

act for someone

act Out

act something out

act up

act out

act up

act the goat

act the maggot

act out

act up

acting

acting,

Evolution of Acting

Acting in the Twentieth Century

Related Topics

Bibliography

Acting

Acting

acting

acting

Synonyms for acting

noun performance

Synonyms

adj temporary

Synonyms

Synonyms for acting

adj temporarily assuming the duties of another

Synonyms

noun the art and occupation of an actor

Synonyms

noun a display of insincere behavior

Synonyms

Synonyms for acting

noun the performance of a part or role in a drama

Synonyms

Related Words

adj serving temporarily especially as a substitute

Related Words