MIKE ALFREDS
He works in a Stanislavski manner, looking at and exploring naturalism in his pieces of theatre, because of this he focuses on the actors and their connection with the characters and being naturalistic in the performance. Consequently he uses given circumstances and objects to make the performances more realistic and believable.
Improvisation
- Improvisation to develop and explore them in different circumstances to understand the way they think and their mentality.
- Improvisation games to investigating the Given Circumstances and being able to live inside them naturally, thinking as the character. Finding the truth on stage.
- Going from generic situations to situations within the Given Circumstances within the Play.
Given Circumstances and objects can make a character or performance more naturalistic and so that the audience invest in it.
- Knowing the given circumstances all around and the submersing yourself in that world.
- Creating a relationship to do with a task - changes and defines how you approach the task.
- Environment - added to a task also changes and developed the characters expression and physicality. Enhancing the reality of the performance.
- Added a person - shared objects, relationships, environment, place.
- Communication - through bodies, without words, so that stories and relationships can be told to audiences.
MICHAEL CHEKHOV
- Wrote “To the Actor”
- His work was on the emphasis on imagination and movement
- His dominant themes were atmosphere, actor’s creativity, physicalisation of inner experience.
- BIG DIFFERENCE between Mick and Stanislavsky – Micheal did not use emotional memory , instead use the imagination to connect with the character.
- Physco physical technique – look at difference of characters. – Actors should understand whole play, like a director not just their part
- Actor should be able to work with the atmosphere of the play – use higher ego
- Work + Spontaneity (Work + Play) – balance
- Mystical and less systematic than Stanislavsky
- Actors become “actor poets”
Character physicality
Exploring and identifying the plain they walk on and use their bodies on.
- Vertical —> open, strong, straight, regimental,
- Horizontal —> loose, free, moveable.
- Going towards something and moving away —> troubled, confused, scared.
The physical centre is where the characters energy generates from within their bodies. Also you look at what type of energy it is: grinding, floating, vibrating ect.
Difference between my character and me
This exercise helped us to understand what separated us from our characters. Personally I think that this is really useful as it allows you to know where you stop and the character starts and to be able to see the character as a living individual and not a part of yourself, so that you don’t get attached but also i think it lets the character come to life more because you are seeing them as a real person.
Why is my character in the play?
This exercise allowed us to understand our characters purpose in the play and what they bring to the play as every character s a purpose and a reason to be there. I found this helpful as it allowed us to understand the importance of our character more and to then be able to bring this to their presents on the stage.
Super Objective is for the whole play and what their aim is within the text and consequently what continues to drive them throughout the play.
We then developed this into Michael Chekhov’s psychological gesture. The psychological gesture is the embodiment of the characters Super Objective, for example if your super objective was to hide from the world you could physicalise this by curling into a ball on the fall and this would be your psychological gesture.
Imagine
Lastly we did an exercise where we had to imagine our characters doing an action and visualise them in detail doing this. Then we began to ask our character questions like how do you sit? Or how do you read? And then see how they responded and imagine the answers to these questions to discover more about you character in a creative and freeing way.
Declan Donnellan
His rules:
• Always a target
• The target already exists and at a measurable distance
• The target exists before you need it
• The target is always specific
• The target is always transforming
• The target is always active
The target always can be split into two; a better or worst outcome. It is seen as a quest and the emotional stakes have to be high to create tension on stage regarding the characters and the situation. When the emotional stakes are higher the action becomes quicker. Each moment has to be played like it is the first time it is happening and that you don’t know what the outcome could be. This has to be played throughout the scene and the element of quest should be present at all times. The focus in the scenes has to be not on what I am doing but on what the target is doing and what is the target making me do. The attention should always be on the target and not on you.
We did an exercise where we had to think about the moments in our characters lives where there could be different outcomes. By acknowledging the existence of these moments allows us as actors to be able to play them on stage, creating a watchable performance as the tension is higher.
Antonin Artaud
He become prominent in the backlash against naturalism. He believed that Theatre should be powerful, dangerous and magical rather than realistic, rationalism of Stanislavsky. He wanted to use theatre as a weapon to break down the traditional barriers of society and to keep the audience in a state of constant excitement and uncertainty.
He has a manifesto called “The Theatre of Cruelty”, that meant to destroy the false reality that people lived in. He focused on physical expression rather than lines and words, which he felt restricted the actors. He felt that everybody had evil inside them, the capacity to be a rapist or a murder so by putting horrific themes like this on stage for audiences to see with the consequences it would effect them so that they would never do it.
Grotowski
Holy theatre - An actor thats a vesel of emotion and at the peak of their physically fitness, so that they can do anything on stage. They are seen as clean and pure.
He would purify his actors and their acting through exercises such as running naked through the forest for hours before a rehearsal. This would exhaust them physically and emotionally so that the acting is emotionally raw and are in a vulnerable state to give a real performance.
Poor theatre - Theatre that is stripped back, no lighting or set ect. Only about the actor and audience relationship.
He rejected the script, anything extravagant or extra that would restrict the pure theatrical form and would distract the actors and audiences from their relationship.
Via Negativa - Technique of limitation, removing anything that would stop the actors being in the moment.
Moment of self penetration - Actors being in the moment and discovering something - the same for the audience.
He didn't believe in actors requiring a “bag of tricks” as it would restrict the actors natural instinct.
Peter Brook
Immediate theatre - Theatre that shares, explores new knowledge and passes this down through generations while keeping the past in mind allowing the best of each to be used in theatre.
It looks at relationships in theatre through the process of creation;
actor/subject/actor
actor/subject/director
director/subject/designer
The subject must alway be present in each relationship, so that it is constant through the creation process and runs through the performance. This makes it clear to the audience the subject and message of the piece they are experiencing.
Holy theatre - (The theatre of the invisible-made-visible). Inspired by Artuad, the stage can be a place for the invisible - the supernatural, human consciousness and dreams can be made real to the audience.
Deadly Theatre - Theatre that fails to elevate, inspire, instruct and entertain audiences. Where an actor is vocally speaking a set of lines correctly however at the core there is no connection or spark. For both actors and audiences they are left disengaged about the piece andcareing very little for it.
Rough Theatre- This refers to the sweat,the noise and the smell of theatre. It is unbound to seats and buildings and rules of the theatre. It can take place anywhere with the audience walking around and involving themselves.
Misner Technique
Misner was a theatre practitioner who believes in getting the honest acting from his actors to create a real, natural performance. His technique:
In pairs one makes a statement about the other.
E.G. “ Your wearing a white jumper” “I’m wearing a white jumper” (repeating and receiving what is given to you)
Either one can change the statement to about the other one. This can then be developed to go into characterisation and their personalities and views on each other. Furthermore this can be used to practice lines in a scene with another person.
You breath in the words that are given to you and then letting them bounce back out of you instinctively.
When practising lines in a scene with this technique it allows you as an actor to live in the moment and to become the character as you are really listening to the other actors on the stage. This can result in multiple outcomes of one line being passed to you as the words loose meaning and its the vocal way they are passed to you. As an actor this is really useful because it allows you to not become set in one mould for a scene.
