Shagging Fungoes (Acting)

Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond to the last post.
Good thinking, all!
I'd just like to toss out a few thoughts of my own in response to your thoughts.
I'm sure there are those audience members who go to a play or movie looking for the acting, just like there are those who go to see a magician who are looking for the trick. They miss the point. It's about losing yourself in the experience. If you want to see how the acting is done, get off your dead ass and do a show. Brecht was seeking a very particular effect for a very specific ideological reason, which is all well and good if you want your theatre to be political. But the theatre isn't about politics, though it can be political; it's about entertainment. And remember that to entertain means 'to hold among' or 'to hold the attention of.' That's what the acting has to do before it does anything else: hold the attention of the audience. Utlimately, why the audience is there and what they are looking for doesn't matter. We do what we do and gift it to them, and, like any gift freely given, they are free to do with it what they will.
As for Meryl, well, she's just damned awesome isn't she? And it doesn't matter one bit whose thoughts you're seeing, though in truth it's both: it's really the actor's, but within the imaginary circumstances of the play/movie which you have suspended your disbelief to enter, it's the character's. All that matters is that you see it and believe it. When it's good, it's transcendent.
In general I'm in agreement with what Adam said except for one thing: how you, the actor, would respond in a given circumstance is irrelevant. No playwright wrought you. If personalizations, and what ifs and magic ifs and adjustment work for you as an actor and the audience believes your behavior, then rock on. However, for most, I find this approach to be self-indulgent. Often it leads to the actor simply being himself on the stage saying a different person's words depending on the play...which is pretty damned dull after a few shows. I don't care about and don't want to see how Larry, Richard, Mel, Kevin, and Ken react to the appearance of their dead father...I want to see how Hamlet, as interpreted by those artists, reacts.
In the end it's all just attitude-driven bullshit...and that's what makes it so damned fun!
Coming Next: The Actor's Essential Reading List.
Watch for it!!!