SUMTEKNIKS

It's all about Soul

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov was born in 1891 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the nephew of the well-renowned author and play-write Anton Chekhov. During his years in the Russian First Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre, Stanislavsky labelled Michael as his best student.  As a result, Chekhov began to lead the Second Moscow Art Theater Studio; however, this enraged Stanislavsky who felt betrayed by Chekhov. 

Nevertheless, in 1928 the ruthless Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered for Michael Chekhov to be exiled from Russia due to Chekhov's work in the Moscow theatre believed by Stalin to be counter-revolutionary to the his communist regime. Therefore, Chekhov emigrated to Berlin and set up his own studio and worked there as an actor, producer, director and teacher. In 1936, Chekhov decided to settle in England. He was later invited by the American actress Beatrice Straight to establish the Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall, Devon. This is where Chekhov began to structure the foundation of his method.  

Unlike, other theatre practitioners, Chekhov believes the actor should have a lot more freedom on stage rather than being tied down by rather intense methods. He strongly believed that actors are creative artists and therefore should create characters using their own characteristics. This character should not be directly tied to his/her personality or the performance will have no substance. However, this creative individuality allows the artist actor to use parts of themselves; not the stale, cliche and lifeless elements, but rather to explore the subconscious depths of one's self thus to obtain in Checkhov's words, "The soul of the character".   

Before the outbreak of World War 2, Chekhov relocated his theatre company to Connecticut in the US. He formed the Chekhov Theatre Players and began to tour his productions across the US which allowed him to increase his profile. During the 1940's Chekhov broke into the American film industry where he obtained masses of respect and success. In 1945, Chekhov received an Oscar nomination for Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound. Chekhov spent the remainder of his years  teaching actors such as  Marilyn Monroe, Mala Powers, Clint Eastwood and many more. 

Michael Chekhov died on the 30th September 1955, age 64 in the Beverly Hills, California. His name and method still remains deeply imprinted in today's theatre and film industry.   

'~SANDY~'

Meisner method: eliminate actor from stage leaving character that lives completely within the moment. You must fully understand what the character wants. Act upon spontaneity and impulse In order to create an organic situation that has a variety if possibility rather than a fixed conclusion therefore not allowing the audience to expect the possibilities which can cause disruption .

 Meisner Quotes: "Ounce of behaviour is more than a pound of words." "Silence of words never an absence of feeling."

 What is the difference between acting and role play?
 Acting: conscious connection with character Role play: unconscious connection with character

 In order to transcend from simply pretending to be a character or playing the stereotype to becoming a role, actors should focus on living and breathing their role on-stage. Some of the key things that an actor should focus on is their commitment to the role and the given circumstances. Moreover, you should be sensitive to the behaviour other actors/characters around them and responding to them accordingly in an instinctive way and keep an honest portrayal of character whilst making offers to the other characters on stage. Most importantly one should be unconsciously using the script to create the scene otherwise it would be lifeless due to the lacking of natural human behaviour. The Repetition Game In order to play the Repetition Game, two actors must face each other in complete neutral in order to give completely natural responses rather than acting them. The aim of the exercise is to emotionally connect with your partner in order to determine the other’s behaviour in the moment.

ACTOR 1: You feel nervous.
 ACTOR 2: I feel nervous.
ACTOR 1: You feel nervous.
 ACTOR 2: I feel nervous.
ACTOR 1: You feel nervous.

 The next stage of this process is to use the repetition exercise in a scene. Repeating the lines to each other without consciously thinking about how to deliver the line within a duologue helps one make a more instinctual and natural approach to the script whilst additionally creating an abundance of ways in which lines can be delivered.

 In conclusion, I believe that the Meisner technique allows an actor to unconsciously act on stage. Nevertheless, the primary weakness of this method all comes down to what the actor take away from it. Creating a number of ways on how to deliver of lines can cause an actor to focus too much on the emotion therefore making their performance in short, rather robotic.

~Impro~ to the ~Visation~

Within this lesson we explored the art of improvisation and ho it can help one emotionally connect with one's role, We were first advised to find a partner and then face them. e were then told to create an imaginary world and situation through improvisation. Me and my partner Jordan produced a number of small scenes each with different narratives; some were slow and dramatic and some were quicker and comedic. For instance, in one improvisation we accepted the roles of step-brothers waiting at a train station, bored, aggravated and tired. Jordan's character was the slightly more talkative one asking me a number of questions which my character would answer with broad replies therefore conveying the tension in their relationship. 

Next, we were instructed to work independently for the coming exercise. The class was told to mime a scene which involved the day-to-day doings of a person. Some people mimed someone doing the washing up etc. In my piece I entered the role of someone trying on their sisters make-up then realizing how scary they look. 

Peruse to the Laban

Today in our Acting Techniques lesson, Tim introduced us to the world-renowned Laban Technique and explained how it could be used successfully during an actors characterization process.  We were first explained that the Laban process helps an actor breaks down and identify the way he/she moves in day-today life using three separate areas of analysis: space, weight and time;  Space can be either direct or indirect.  Weight can be strong or light.  Time can be sudden or sustained. As a result,  When you combine these processes you are left with eight efforts that classify styles of movement, as well as foundations of human characteristics which can be used to develop your characters's personality. These are the eight efforts and Laban techniques:Direct, strong, sudden--------punch (thrust)Indirect, strong, sudden------slashDirect, strong, sustained-----pushIndirect, strong, sustained---wringDirect, light, sudden----------dabIndirect, light, sudden--------flickDirect, light, sustained-------glideIndirect, light, sustained-----floatFollowing what we had just learn't Tim instructed to put this into practice therefore, we positioned ourselves into a space within the room and stood in neutral. Tim then at different intervals would call out one of the eight efforts of the Laban technique. Later we were asked to read a section of our scripts using the Laban Technique to uncover certain traits and habits of movement that our character's may have. During this process I discovered  fitted mostly with the 'flick' effort of movement which was indirect, light, sudden. In conclusion I believe the strengths of this exercise was that it opened up our minds and bodies therefore prohibiting any portrayal of yourself during the process and therefore finding new ways of moving and conveying emotion. However  in my view the disadvantage of this practice is that one could be tricked into developing a rather melodramatic and stereotypical style of movement which would hinder one's performance.