What is practical aesthetics?

The acting technique Practical Aesthetics, was devised by American Playwright/Director, David Mamet and American Actor, William H Macy.

In the early 80’s Mamet and Macy decided to run an acting program to address the concerns many theatre practitioners had about the current direction of mainstream American actor training. Certain acting schools were creating actors who were more concerned with the experience they were having as actors than the realisation of the writer’s work or the experience that the audience ultimately had. Theatre performance and training was becoming self-indulgent and self-centred.

The technique gives working actors a clear way to analyse scripts of all media, and has become a common rehearsal and performance tool. Many professional actors have chosen to study Practical Aesthetics in addition to their formal acting training, and actors of all ranges of experience have found Practical Aesthetics invaluable in their work.
Practical Aesthetics draws on the later writing of Stanislavsky, and the works of Sanford Meisner, Joseph Campbell, Aristotle, Bruno Bettleheim, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, William James, and Alice Miller.

Practical Aesthetics is now taught by the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York. The company has a large school and a very successful Off-Broadway Theatre CO.

Practical Aesthetics in Australia

Practical Aesthetics has steadily grown in popularity in Australia since Andrea Moor introduced it in 1995. The technique is used widely in the film and television industries by actors, directors and dramaturges.

Practical Aesthetics has inspired dramaturges working with actors and scripts on television shows such as Wildside, Headstart, Heartbreak High and Young Lions and the films Serenades, He Died with a Felafel in his Hand, and Soft Fruit.

Andrea has taught classes privately in Sydney over the last 16 years and at NIDA, WAAPA, St Martins Youth Theatre Melbourne, Actors College of Theatre and Television (Sydney), Queensland Theatre Co, and among many film and television casts. The technique is particularly attractive to film and television directors as it provides an easy way of finding truth in the moment of performance.