Practical Aesthetics is an acting technique originally conceived by David Mamet and William H. Macy, based on the teachings of Stanislavsky, Sanford Meisner, and the Stoic Philosopher Epictetus. (wiki)
Mark Westbrook @ Ezine:
The actors on stage must deal with what’s in front of them in the truth of the moment. Nothing is more likely to disturb that illusion more than failing to respond truthfully if your colleague on stage accidentally drops the bottle of champagne. The audience will suspend their disbelief if they are not given a reason to react otherwise.
The actor employing Practical Aesthetics is in a constant state of improvisation. Each moment on stage is unrehearsed in the traditional sense. Instead, rehearsal writes into the muscle memory of the actor, the given circumstances of the play, including notes from the director and tools or tactics by which to pursue an essential action for each scene. In Mamet’s words ‘we prepare to improvise’.
Lines are learned by rote without meaning or feeling. This allows the individual line to serve any possible tactic without fixing a line reading.
Additionally, Practical Aesthetics employs techniques for getting the actor out of their own head. The actor places their attention on the other, and tries to achieve in the other a change whilst observing and adapting their approach to the new and changing truth of the moment. This takes the focus off the actor themself. Constant and progressive use of Repetition exercises adapted from Meisner, habitualises this practise in the actor. The truthfulness of the actors response is now only limited by what he or she can see before them and that possibility is endless and constantly shifting.
More @ “Practical Aesthetics — An Overview”
See also: