Acting can be thought of as a form of story telling. Actors are story tellers. Acting in the story can be described as experiencing the story. The actor tells the story by acting 'as if' the circumstances are true. By experiencing the story the actor strives to achieve emotional truth. If the actor experiences the story at an emotionaly true level the audience tends to believe or relate to the story being told. The term 'suspension of disbelief' refers to the tacit agreement an audience makes with the actors who are telling the story. The agreement implies that the audience knows its a story and isn't real. But the fact is, an audience may be able to suspend its disbelief in the areas of time and place and circumstance of the story. But the audience will not usually be reached or believe the story unless it appeals on an emotional level by 'ringing true'. We might coin another phrase that refers to this by saying the actors need to emotionaly experience the story and create a 'tension of belief'.
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