The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act *Kindle
“Entertaining … a remarkable story.”--The New Yorker “Delicious, humane, probing.”--Vulture, Most Anticipated Books of 2022 "The best and most important book about acting I’ve ever read."--Nathan Lane From the coauthor of The World Only Spins Forward comes the first cultural history of Method acting--an ebullient account of creative discovery and the birth of classic Hollywood. On stage and screen, we know a great performance when we see it. But how do actors draw from their bodies and minds to turn their selves into art? What is the craft of being an authentic fake? More than a century ago, amid tsarist Russia’s crushing repression, one of the most talented actors ever, Konstantin Stanislavski, asked these very questions, reached deep into himself, and emerged with an answer. How his “system” remade itself into the Method and forever transformed American theater and film is an unlikely saga that has never before been fully told. Now, critic and theater director Isaac Butler chronicles the history of the Method in a narrative that transports readers from Moscow to New York to Los Angeles, from The Seagull to A Streetcar Named Desire to Raging Bull. He traces how a cohort of American mavericks--including Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, and the storied Group Theatre--refashioned Stanislavski’s ideas for a Depression-plagued nation that had yet to find its place as an artistic powerhouse. The Group’s feuds and rivalries would, in turn, shape generations of actors who enabled Hollywood to become the global dream-factory it is today. Some of these performers the Method would uplift; others, it would destroy. Long after its midcentury heyday, the Method lives on as one of the most influential--and misunderstood--ideas in American culture. Studded with marquee names--from Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, and Elia Kazan, to James Baldwin, Ellen Burstyn, and Dustin Hoffman--The Method is a spirited history of ideas and a must-read for any fan of Broadway or American film. Read more
Download Now
Why Must Read The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act?
I was inspired to buy this book by an interview the author gave on NPR. His lively, enthusiastic delivery would make the audiobook a great choice, but the Kindle version captures his tone. His approach to the subject matter is ingenious. He presents the story of Method Acting as the biography of an idea that swept the entertainment industry and entered popular culture. The parallels to psychoanalysis are obvious and historically contemporary. But instead of a Viennese psychiatrist, this movement starts with a Russian theatre director at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Like psychoanalysis, it spreads to the West through evangelizing disciples and captures the imagination of both celebrity actors and the public at large, with reactions ranging from fanatic adherence to ridicule. What makes the story so widely appealing is that it goes beyond acting technique to explore questions of the self and mind-body connection, with a dose of Hollywood glamour. But the approach is not clinical or heavy-handed, and Butler has a keen eye for describing societal contexts. This well-crafted book will be appreciated by anyone with any interest in film, acting, or just the roles we play in our own lives. In other words, just about everyone.
Read Now