What is Melodrama?

In order to determine what naturalistic acting is we must first figure out the inverse - Melodrama. Melodrama is characterised by exaggerated gestures, unrealistic action, stereotypical actors follow a predetermined predictable path, well known character types e.g. Hero, Villain, Damsels etc. During the Pre-Stanislavsky technique era Actor's personalities were more important than the character themselves. Some actors even refused to learn lines. These type of actors relied relied on big gestures, learned facial expressions, and the audience adoration for them. In fact the audience loved this type of performance! They lavished in the celebrity culture, the plays were palatable and easy to digest and the luxury of the theatre made people feel superior. In those times psychological acting was unheard of, the actors didn't embody a role; they simply demonstrated a story.

Affection

We did a few exercises to explore and experience melodrama. This task involved us walking around a playing the stereotypes story characters. For example we had to walk around the space as "The Hero". Immediately everyone puffed out their chests, stuck their chins out and put on a face of smugness. This helped me to see how because we are simply playing stereotypes through learnt societal behaviours our performance were fake and lacked any emotional or physiological elements. We were not embodying real people. This exercise then developed on to partner work. We were given a sentence to say along the lines of "My love burns for you with a passion that feels me fear". This had no true emotional effect on my partner however it did create quite a comic moment. This made me realise that melodrama does in fact have it's uses.

Actor training

Actor training like we have today did not exist; thus actors learnt through "copy-cating". They would replicate, gestures, vocal choices and facial expressions they procured from their predecessors. Obviously they couldn't copy them perfect and performances would become weaker as each link in the chain passed down their acting styles. This is another key factor why Stanislavsky introduced his system, He not only wanted to introduce a more realistic and psychological system of acting but one were actors had honed their instruments and were properly trained for the demands of the stage.  

Naturalism vs. Realism

Naturalism began as a literary movement between the 1880's and 1930's. It was born from writers wishing to exam social issues through the mediums of their books and bring a slice of the real world into the writing world devoid of fantastical ventures. This subsequently spread to the world of acting. Actors were no longer puppets; they were real life thinking and breathing organisms capable of making decisions for themselves.  This method of acting is difficult, after all, what is it to be natural? what is real? It takes a lot more effort to be real then to be fake. The Naturalism movement did reach a peak however. Some of this can be contributed to boring stage action like the opening scene of a play that contains the stage directions of a maid cleaning a kitchen for 15 minutes!  Realism is more what actors strive for in the 21st century however we wouldn't have this without it's big brother - naturalism!