Actors and Emotion in Performance

Utilising a survey conducted among actors in the USA and UK, this article examines and challenges the historical assumption that textual-based acting in the West is concerned primarily with the [re]creation of emotion. The idea that acting is based on the [re]creation of emotion is supported by a brief exploration of historical notions of acting from ancient Rome to the early twentieth century. Through the use of a questionnaire and interviews, the author uses the words of modern actors along with the writings of their historical counterparts to demonstrate, statistically and anecdotally, that actors do not feel that they are [re]creating emotions but are, in fact, reacting to the given circumstances as the character they are portraying would.