Investigating the adoption and adaption of method acting in South African theatre.
Thaba, Eddie
Thaba, Eddie
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Abstract
This study investigates the adoption and possible adaptation of Method acting by ten theatre actors in the province of Gauteng. The study seeks to identify in the candidates’ approach to a role six major elements of Method acting stemming from Russian acting teacher, Konstantin Stanislavski’s acting technique called “the System”. The study focuses on the candidates’ first acquaintance with a script (if any), rehearsal, and onstage portrayal of a role. To achieve this, the study first explores the genesis of Stanislavski’s System, its voyage from Russia to America, and its resultant adaptation into different American techniques given the umbrella term, Method acting. The study also examines different interpretations and iterations
of the Stanislavski System by scholars and practitioners and then identifies six major elements common in both American Method and Stanislavski’s System. This enabled me to generate questions posed to the research participants during open-ended interviews, after which, two tables of analysis, one dealing with the adoption, and the other with adaptation, were developed. The study takes a qualitative research design of a phenomenological genre, which falls under the Interpretivist/Constructivist research paradigm, the main goal of which is to
understand the subjective world of human experience. To minimise misinterpretation and bias, I applied Giorgi’s analytical procedures of “bracketing and reduction.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Technologiae: Drama in the Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts & Drama at the Tshwane University of Technology
Date
2024-01-31
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Tshwane University of Technology
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Keywords
Adoption, Adaption, Acting, Theatre, South Africa