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Theatre Arts for Advanced Secondary Schools

The director asked Kipe to stand on her right foot and reach as high as she
could with her left hand. Then, she was asked to imagine that above her head,
there was a brand-new smart phone, something that she greatly desired. Kipe
was to reach again, and really try to get it!
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This exercise illustrates the difference between external and internal acting
methods. When Kipe was asked to reach as high as she could, she responded by
acting from the outside since she reached only because she was told to do so. But
when she really tried to get something, even though it was imaginary, she acted
from the inside because she was trying to achieve the goal of some imaginary
character. The goal comes from her imagination such as, what brand of a smart
phone was it? What is its camera capacity? Which edition of the phone is it?

It should be understood that internal and external approaches to performance
work together as a system. Internal techniques are expressed through bodily
reactions such as voices, gestures, postures or any other body movement. Figure
4.3 shows actors perform training during a session.

Figure 4. 3: Actors performing in a training session

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