Stage performances are judged to be realistic to the degree that actors reproduce on stage the behaviors generally associated by audiences with the emotional states of the characters portrayed  Traditional actors imitate those behaviors, whereas Method actors, through recollection of personal experience, actually experience the same emotions that their characters are meant to be experiencing
Audiences will ttherefore judge the performances of Method actors to be more realistic than the performances of traditional actors
Realism is an essential criterion for evaluating the performances of both traditional actors and Method actors.