Acting is the ability to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances… Truth is the blood of art. Without truth, a peice of art fails to touch the human spirit… If the actors are skilled, we’ll begin to react to the events onstage as if they were real, as if we were bystanders at some actual event… If in fact the actors are skilled, what we’re watching isn’t pretend. It is an actual event… Hemingway once said, ‘All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened.’… The nature of all good acting: illusion that is real. Imagination made true… Actors are wonderful liars… Their lies are always grounded in truth, and always their lies serve the purpose of art… Maybe ‘living’ can be defined by what you do… The reality of doing is the foundation of good acting.
The Actor’s Art and Craft–William Esper
