What are the definitions for mechanical and organic acting?

Question

what are the defs. or even diffrences between both acting styles?

Answer 1

There's no set definition, but how I learned it was that an organic acting style is characterized by literally putting yourself in the mind/body of that character and 'being' them. Thus, you are acting simply as another person. This is called organic because you are allowing your character to dictate your style, movements, speech, etc. You're letting it come from your character. In this style, most directors will be allowing you a lot of freedom as the actor to 'let it come'. This comes out as them reminding you to 'be the character'. The organic style is what you're seeing when you see a director asking an actor what their character would do in that situation.
A mechanical acting style is a little more technique oriented. For example, someone who has been trained in the mechanical style will produce tears by thinking about something sad/bad that happened to they themselves, (someone within the organic style would be thinking of something that would be sad/bad for their character). The mechanical style is thinking about being an actor within the context of the play. It follows more of acting as you would act, but within the context of a character. This style is very helpful for beginning actors, as it shows a more 'book-smart' sense of learning to act- researching period characters, how to project, how to cry, how to yell, etc.

Answer 2

Acting Definition

Answer 3

Short answer: mechanical is more "outside-in;" that is, the actor adopts the physical characteristics he believes will be most effective for the role, and derives internal/emotional feedback from those choices. Organic is more "inside-out;" the actor tries to find the emotional core of the character first, and lets that process inform his physical choices.

Good acting requires both, and good actors can move fluidly between the styles, knowing that an effective performance requires BOTH emotional truth and physical precision.