The Van Kamp Method: How Years of Training Became One Powerful Technique

By Merete Van Kamp — Le Van Kamp Studio

Photo © Jean-Jacques Bugat

There is a moment every serious actor knows. You've studied the greats. You've sat in the rooms where legends were made. You've absorbed Stanislavski, Strasberg, Adler, Meisner, Chubbuck. And yet — something still feels incomplete.

That moment came for me too.

First and Foremost: A Method Actor

Before anything else, I am a Method Actor. That is my foundation, my home base, the lens through which I approach every role and every scene.

Method Acting — rooted in the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavski and developed further by Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio — is not simply a technique. It is a way of being. It asks the actor to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances, to bring genuine emotional life to every moment, to never pretend but always be. It demands total commitment, deep personal investigation, and an unwillingness to settle for anything less than the truth.

This is where I begin. Always.

The Training Years

My journey took me through some of the most respected acting institutions in the world — the Stella Adler Studio, the Ivana Chubbuck Masterclass, The Loft, and beyond. Each gave me something irreplaceable.

Stella Adler taught me the power of imagination — that the actor's instrument is not memory, but vision.

Chubbuck gave me the engine: a driving, specific, unstoppable objective — and the concept of the unforgettable traumatic event. I applied it to a scene and character at the Ivana Chubbuck Masterclass theatre on Melrose Blvd. What happened that day I will never forget. I experienced a powerful breakthrough — going into one of the worst traumatic events of my life, deeper than I had ever gone before. It was raw, unguarded, completely exposed. The performance that came out of it was extraordinary. Everyone clapped. And I — in a kind of daze — pushed through the crowd and hurried home.

I lay in bed for three days, crying. Asking myself whether I was a masochist to do this job. Because this work is costly. Emotionally costly. And no one tells you that when you sign up.

But something else happened in those three days. Once the storm passed, I found I could look at what had happened — not from inside it, but from a distance. Like a spectator of my own experience. I could see it clearly, almost clinically: what had unfolded, why it had hit so hard, what it had unlocked. That overview — that ability to step outside yourself and observe — turned out to be one of the most valuable things the work had ever given me. It is, I now believe, an essential part of the actor's craft: to feel everything fully, and then to be able to witness it.

The Loft sharpened my instincts for truth in the moment — a different kind of truth, quieter, more immediate. A necessary counterbalance.

But through all of it, Method Acting remained my core. The other techniques didn't replace it — they enriched it. They gave me more tools to serve the same fundamental truth.

And I kept asking the same question: why does it have to be one or the other?

The Synthesis

After years of study, performance, and work on set, I began to notice something. The techniques weren't competing — they were complementary. Each one addressed a different layer of the actor's instrument. The challenge was knowing which tool to reach for, and when.

So I began building. Quietly, methodically, session by session. With Method Acting as the spine, I wove in the most effective elements of each tradition into a single, coherent approach — one that could flex to meet any actor, at any level, in any scene.

I call it the Van Kamp Method.

What Makes It Different

Most techniques ask you to commit to a single philosophy. The Van Kamp Method asks you to commit to the truth of the scene — and then gives you every tool you need to get there.

It is rooted in three pillars:

• Method Acting as the foundation — emotional truth, genuine presence, and total commitment to the reality of the scene
• Driven objectives — drawn from Chubbuck's powerful goal-based approach, giving every moment a spine
• Imagination over imitation — inspired by Adler's belief that great acting begins in the mind, expanded by the actor's own creative vision
• Camera intelligence — because today's actor must be as fluent on screen as on stage

The result is a technique that is practical, flexible, and deeply personal. One that doesn't ask you to become someone else — it asks you to become more fully yourself.

Who It's For

The Van Kamp Method is for actors who are serious. Who have perhaps studied before and felt something was missing. Who want to work at a level where technique disappears and only truth remains.

Sessions are available online or in person, individually or as an ongoing practice. Every session is tailored — because no two actors are the same, and no two journeys are identical.

Work With Me

If you're ready to go deeper, I'd love to work with you.

🎬 Book a session — from €50 per session, or €240/month for weekly sessions with homework.

Le Van Kamp Studio — Paris