Konstantin Stanislavky Summer Work Post

Konstantin Stanislavsky - Bella Merlin

Over the summer break, I have been given the task to read Konstantin Stanislavsky by Bella Merlin.

Chapter 1

The book begins with an outline of Stanislavsky’s life and the journey he undertook in his search to making acting appear to be realistic and not staged as he was ‘a man who was passionate about theatrical ‘truth’’.

An idea that thoroughly interested me in Chapter 1 was the introduction to Stanislavsky’s idea of ‘affective memory’ where actors recall situations from their own experiences that are comparable to the character’s situation; it involves using the five senses to recall the situations in order to help the actor link the emotions felt in their experiences to the emotions that the character should be feeling in the scene. What began my interest in this topic was reading how Stanislavsky decided to spend a night locked in the cellar of the castle in hope that he would then be able to find what he was lacking when playing a decrepit old man’, played by Stanislavsky when he was only twenty-five. He felt like he would be able to bring his memories and experiences to the rehearsal room in order to make his character more successful, however he was wrong; this fascinated me as he then went on to wonder how he could turn external result to internal process, which is then what led him to continue his journey for a further 50 years (until 1938).

Another thing that interested me in Chapter 1 was that Stanislavsky’s directing strategy involved a ‘production plan’; this was created by filling a playtext with countless details that he produced before the rehearsal process began. I found this intriguing as, once the production plan had been created, the actors were forced to carry out his directions unquestionably and precisely. This made me think about how different this style of acting differs from what I am used to as theatre lessons at school tend to involve us, as the actors, devising much our material; this led me to become even more fascinated as I found this to be a very interesting style of directing that made me wish to read further in hope that there would be more on this topic for me to learn about.

My final point on this chapter is on ‘Active Analysis’. In this section, the steps of the rehearsal process are explained; the first step is noted that the actors should first read the script; the second step involves assessing the facts of the scene. The second step mentions that assessing the facts involves asking such questions as: What are the inciting objectives and resisting counter-objectives? What is the style of the piece? What language do the characters use in terms of images and rhythms? I found the type of questions that the actors should be asking themselves to be very effective because by answering these questions about the characters and the situations, it would help the actors to understand the play and the characters better therefore making the play seem more authentic and realistic to the audience when watching it as a performance. It is mentioned that the actors would then improvise the scene with their own words; after the improvisation, the actors would then reread the scene and then improvise the scene again, with their own words. This exercise appears that it would be very effective as it then says, ‘With each new improvisation, the actors strove to add more details of the events, language and images’. This rehearsal process proved to be a success as it later reads, ‘if the improvisational work had been successful, they found that the scene had virtually ‘learned itself’’.

Chapter 2

The following chapter focuses on the three publications written by Konstantin Stanislavsky; An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role (however Building a Character and Creating a Role are described to be ‘incomplete’).

Although this is mentioned in the introduction and not the main body of the text, an interesting point made is that a lady named Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood, and her husband, Norman, translated the book into English. The pair substantially edited the texts; an example of this is that that the word ‘objective’ was translated into ‘object’. This is an interesting concept as it leads me to wonder if the English-Speaking countries were then led to misunderstand the ‘system’ as there were also other changes made such as the number of questions were summarised as there being only four questions when in fact Stanislavsky wrote the book to have six.

‘When Torstov suggests to Vanya that he search for an imaginary slip of blue paper, he illustrates that even the most simple of objectives, executed truthfully and with a sense of faith can ignite the inner creative state’. To me, this quote is very good in summarising the Stanislavsky system. The quote is mentioned in the section, which talks about Chapter 13: The ‘Inner Creative State’; I feel as if the quote is ultimately saying that if you believe in your character and your performance, with even the strictest instruction, your performance will be very successful as it can awaken your ‘inner creative state’; Bella Merlin, in another book, describes the ‘inner creative state’ as 'one in which anything is possible, where your sense of play and spontaneity is at your finger tips.  You're so physically relaxed and psychologically warmed-up that you're open to every changing nuance in your fellow actors, your audience and yourself.  In this state you really are listening'. Also, Stanislavsky declares that ‘the fundamental objective of our pycho-technique is to put us in a creative state in which our subconscious will function naturally’. Together, the quotes lead me to believe that this state in which Stanislavsky talks about is one of his most important points as I believe this perfectly describes what makes an amazing performance.

I will make my final point on this section on the diagram shown in Figure 2.5, which is described to be an overview of Stanislavsky’s ‘system’.

This diagram gives an overview of what Stanislavsky believed an actor required in order for their performance to be successful; I find this interesting as it shows how detailed your inner and external creative states need to be in order for you to apply it to your superobjective in order for your character to be successful. Also, this is a rather complex diagram so it shows the amount of thought and time Stanislavsky must have put into this in order for it to fully express and conclude his ‘system’.

Chapter 3

This chapter focuses on the process of The Seagull at Moscow Art Theatre. This was a performance in 1898, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.

The ‘plan’ of The Seagull was described to be ‘undeniably insightful’. Bella Merlin states that Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko was the only person who had any faith in the play as Stanislavsky probably wouldn’t have chosen the play if it wasn’t for ‘the literary taste and understanding of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko’. This is fascinating to read about as The Seagull is now referred to as ‘one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre’. This is incredible as if it wasn’t for Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko’s faith in the play.

In ‘The First Impressions’ section, it is stated that ‘as spectators, we are invited to feel that what we see on stage is only a ‘slice’ of the life that actually exists in the play’. This is quite an interesting idea as it then goes on to explain that the audience are encouraged to believe that once the actors exit the stage, they are still in role and that they are real people continuing their everyday lives but just not in the view of the audience. This shows what a revolutionary practitioner Stanislavsky was as ‘realism’ was a very ‘fresh’ technique to use in the theatre in the late 1800s. Also, it states that Stanislavsky wanted to ‘weave a spell over the audience’ in the sense that he wanted the audience to almost feel as if they were in the play by using their ‘senses as well as their intellects’ as he used a 10-second pause to create suspense, and used pathetic fallacy so that when there was thunder and lightning, the audience would use their intellects to translate the bad weather into working out that something bad is going to happen in the play.

Stanislavsky was fascinated by soundscapes. Soundscapes were used a lot in The Seagull. The tolling of church bells are used on different points in the play for different effects. In the middle of the play, distant church bells are used to provoke ‘a sense of foreboding’. However, the same bell is sounded in Act 4 when Nina returns – the audience then reminded of Act 1 and ‘Nina’s sorry plight’. Soundscapes are used effectively in The Seagull as they take ‘the spectators on a subconscious exploration of circles of attention’. The book states ‘The audience are being capsulated between the inner world of the characters, and the outer world of Russia’. This is an incredible result of using a soundscape as the audience then get lost in the play therefore meaning that the soundscape was very effective. Singing is also used to add textures to the play therefore making the soundscape as a whole very effective.

Chapter 4

This final chapter is all about Practical Exercises. These exercises fall into three basic categories – Introduction to ‘round-the-table analysis’ and Stanislavsky’s ‘system’; Introduction to the Method of Physical Actions; and Introduction to Active Analysis.

Introduction to ‘round-the-table analysis’ and Stanislavsky’s ‘system’

This section is a mixture of devised exercises with a few of Stanislavsky’s own. These exercises are basically theatre games, specially created to be enjoyable as well as being informative.

Relaxation

I am going to use the example of ‘Relaxation’ exercises to talk about the first category in Practical Exercises - Introduction to ‘round-the-table analysis’ and Stanislavsky’s ‘system’. I think the relaxation exercises are very important, as ‘Muscular relaxation was the starting point for all Stanislavsky’s work’.

I think that ‘Exercise 4.3: Working with TWO given circumstances’ is a very good exercise to warm up your imagination. It involves two people going up and taking a card each – one with a place name and one with a time mark (for example, The London Eye at 4am). The partners will then improvise a scene to work the two cards in. Some actors struggle with this exercise, as they have to invent a reason to justify why they are at the specific location at a particular time.

I find that this exercise would be very effective to get the actors’ imaginations working, ready for rehearsals.

Introduction to the Method of Physical Actions

This section dissects the Method of Physical Actions, while also supplying a few simple games and exercises

Consecutive Acts

The exercise in this section that interests me is ‘Exercise 4.10’. This exercise involves putting your hand into a bath of water. You must act as if you have no idea as what the temperature is so you put your fingertips in first, questioning ‘Is this water hot or cold?’, and then once your fingertips are aware of the temperature, signals are passed along your arm (starting at the palm, then the wrist, and so on). Then you need to imagine you have lost something, such as a ring, with value to you in the water. Would you test the water before or plunge your arm straight in? When you put your hand back in the bath of water, notice the difference and how you do not bother to test the water first.

I believe that this exercise shows actors about different styles of acting; your actions in the scene depending on the style of scene it is.

Introduction to Active Analysis

Active Analysis is very similar to the Method of Physical Actions – there is only a subtle difference. Active Analysis is a rehearsal approach like Method of Physical Actions.

Silent études

Stanislavsky was very interested in Silent études. Due to his fascination of them I have decided to talk about Exercise 4.15.

This exercise involves two people standing in an empty space. First, both actors read the scene and conclude the basic dramatic structure – ‘What are the inciting and resisting actions?’ ‘What is the main event without which there would be no encounter?’ The actors then decide to stand with a certain distance between each other, depending on the nature of their relationship or the circumstances given to them in the scene. They then search for a point of contact but this time the space between them will enlarge or decrease based on the given circumstances.

I also think this exercise is very effective as through doing this exercise, the actors can begin to understand their characters more as well as their relationship with the other character.

Conclusion

Through reading this publication about Konstantin Stanislavsky, I can now understand his ideas further and see how his ‘system’ made him become one of the very first twentieth-centaury practitioners who actually dedicated much of his life to investigate acting this seriously.

As I have now finished this book, I can now conclude that I think his system is very effective in the way that it gets actors to know plays and characters in further detail to make it more believable instead of actors just knowing an overview/outline.

Hedda Gabler Summer Work Post

Hedda Gabler – By Henrik Ibsen

Over the summer holidays, I have read the play Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen.

First impressions

When I first received the play-book, the first thing I did was to read the blurb to get a feel of what the play would about; I noticed that it states that she just arrived home from her ‘extended honeymoon’. From this, I understood that she had just got married, however when I began reading the book, I wondered why the title of the play was ‘Hedda Gabler’ and not ‘Hedda Tesman’. This led me back to looking at the blurb where it states that she is unhappy and she feels confined by her marriage. I wondered if maybe the title was ‘Hedda Gabler’ because she feels as if the only way to get power over men, by being known as her father’s daughter instead of her husband’s wife, is not to commit to changing her name therefore reminding her of her old life before she was married.

Again, before reading the book, I looked for suggestions of what the play would be about. I decided to look at the front cover for clues; the front cover shows a lady wearing old-fashioned clothing looking out of a window. Due to the clothing worn, I could already assume that the book would be set in the early twentieth-centaury when women were not seen to be equal to men. Moreover, the fact that she is looking out of the window suggest she is does not feel as if she has freedom in her home.

Personal Response

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this play. I feel as if it was not only interesting but I also feel as if it educated me in the freedom women felt that they lacked in the time in which the play is set.

Characters

My favourite character in the play was Hedda. This is because I feel as if she really set herself apart from the rest of the characters; she was independent, confident, and she was not afraid to voice her opinion. As women in this time period did not have a lot of freedom, she is not submissive but she is intelligent and unpredictable. To me, she was the most enjoyable character to read about, as it was difficult to predict what she would do next! It is obvious that Hedda is from a higher class than him, which leads me to wonder: Is she unhappy in her marriage due to the class barrier?

I found George Tesman to be another complex character. He appears to be very in love with Hedda so he is very protective of her. However, not once does George say that he “loves” her; this shows that George sees Hedda not as a person but as an object or a trophy. This also supports that women were a lower class to men. On Page 17, the fact he uses ‘thing’ instead of ‘person’ when discussing Hedda when he says ‘She’s the best thing in my life’. When he is talking about the honeymoon to Miss Tesman on Page 14 and 15, he is more focused on academia than the honeymoon as he keeps confusing the two, meaning he sees academia to be more important than Hedda. Moreover, on Page 19 and 20, he is focusing on her physical attributes when he mentions her weight, which further links to objectification.

The Story

The narrative is especially interesting when considering the relationships of power, especially in relation to women. Whilst Hedda initially had power over the men who were interested in her, shown by her fierce independence, she loses this control once she becomes married. Through marriage, she experiences a loss of power, which is significant considering the unequal power relations between men and women during this time period. This loss of power is also shown when Hedda feels she is a slave; this is linked to when Judge Brack tells Hedda that he knows that the gun that Eilert shot himself with belonged to Hedda but he would keep it quiet, meaning that he would have something over her for the rest of her life. The idea of a slave is another example of one person having dominance over another. I think Hedda killing herself is a tragic example of her feeling trapped and trying to regain control (and power) back in her subordinated situation.

The Situations

There are numerous situations that occur in Hedda Gabler.

The most major of the situations is the final scene when Hedda takes her life into her own hands. Referring back to the previous paragraph, I think this was a very powerful scene in the sense that Hedda decided to end her life rather than being trapped in a loveless marriage and also power held over her by Judge Brack.

The Feel of the Play

The general feel of the play seemed rather dark as it felt like the audience was seeing the play from Hedda’s perspective therefore when there were happy occasions or things happening, the audience didn’t feel happy in those moments as they felt almost trapped in Hedda’s mindset therefore seeing things from her joyless life unable to enjoy the happy moments.

Throughout the play, I felt myself feeling sorry for the character of Hedda throughout, as her voice seemed to be unheard. This led me to want to read on further to discover if her voice would be ever heard – Of course she was finally listened to at the end when she finally regained power.

The Magic If

The Magic If

I am standing in front of Eilert's lodgings. I see the brown brickwork running along the walls. I go to touch it and it's rough. My stomach is turrning at the thought of Eilert not being home, so I inspect the outside of his lodgings further.

There are white crosses on the window, from top to bottom. They are so detailed, they make the window look beautiful. Looking at this beauty calms me down slightly, it begins to ease my worries.

The front garden is a patch of green, well-looked-after grass. It is evenly cut, with two rows of flowers running down the two opposite sides. I hear two ladies talking about Eilert so I interject, "Have you seen Eilert today?" They exchange a look; a look that you give someone before you give them bad news. My heart pounds.

"He didn't come home last night" I hear them say, but as I walk away, I hear a mention of a hospital. My head is spinning and my palms are sweating. I race for Hedda's home to seek help and advice.

Hedda opens the door and I stand, panting. Judge Brack is there and he tells me that he has shot himself. I am beside myself. I don't know what I am going to do with my life now. Although everyone is speaking, I can't hear a word they are saying. All I can think about is that my precious Eilert is dead. First my child is dead and now Eilert.
I start for the door and I run to the hospital. My heart racing, my chest tight, my nerves everywhere. I ask for Eilert and they simply tell me, "He is dead".
I scream. I shout. I cry.
My two loves. Gone.

The Nine Questions

The Nine Questions - Thea Elvstead

We lay in semisupine in order to picture our answers for these nine questions:

1) Who am I?

I am Thea Elvstead. My hair is blonde and my eyes are pale brown. I've been told I walk with a very straight posture, but then again I guess that is the standard of a woman. I come from a very middle class family. When I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor but then I realised that I was put on this earth to inspire men; you've probably already heard of Eilert Loevborg and how I am the reason he is not longer an alcoholic. No, I am his muse. I have some sort of power over him.

2) What time is it?

It's Autumn time in 1890. It's soon going to be 1900! Can you believe it? When I look out of the window, I can see the brown, crisp leaves falling from the trees. I love this weather, I love when you pick up a leaf, when no one is looking, and close it inside your hand and it completely crumbles and is nothing but specs of dust. Sometimes, I wish I could be a leaf to just experience the feeling of nothingness. I find that hard to think of, death. My favourite artist, Vincent Van Gogh, died only a few months ago.

3) Where am I?

At this very moment in time, I am standing in the drawing room of George and Hedda Tesman's great mansion. I can see the teal sofas around the room, while there is big dining table in the centre. There are roses in a vase placed in the centre of the table, while there is another bunch on the top of the piano. There is an unmistakable smell in the air of Hedda's perfume as it stains the air. The windows have black crosses on them, and the glass is so clear that it looks like it must have just been cleaned. This is a beautiful drawing room. One that I could only ever dream of.

4) What surrounds me?

I am currently alone. I am waiting to see Hedda and George since I have not seen them since before the honeymoon. Ah the honeymoon, what a great trip they must have had! I do admit, I am quite jealous that Hedda has got someone who really cares for her however I don't feel as if the love travels both ways.

5) What is my relationship to the people and things around me?

I knew Hedda when we were at school. Between me and you, I have a burning hate for her because she threatened to set my hair on fire. On fire! I know George through the town but I became closer with him when I heard about him and Hedda. You see, Eilert used to tutor our, well my husband's, children and Eilert is a great friend of George's so I mostly know him through connections.

6) What are the given circumstances?

George and Hedda have just come back from honeymoon. I had a one to one chat with Hedda where she basically admitted to threatening me when I was younger! Oh, I do hate this woman but alas I cannot tell a soul unless I want to get a bad name, even worse than the one I have now due to me leaving my husband.

7) What do I want?

I want Hedda to be exposed by someone other than myself. I want everyone to know how much this lady has affected my life. But looking past this, I want Eilert. I can't watch him fall back into drinking, we've come this far together, I can't let this go to waste. I mean, I will never tell anyone this, but I feel like Eilert and I could be more than we already are. But then again, we can't due to my recent seperation with my husband. However, me and Eilert have a child together - I mean, not an actual child, a book! A book we have both put time and effort into. A book we have both worked so hard for. A book we have both cared for.

8) What's in my way?

The thing in Eilert and I's way is that I can't be shamed further in this town. It's bad enough that I get called names on the street but I can't let that go further. Also, I am not sure if Eilert feels the same way. I need to keep it a secret from everyone.

9) How am I going to get what I want?

I am going to wait for the book release so that I can share a moment of joy with Eilert. Hopefully, he will then feel the same way and we can we so happy together. I want to support and inspire him as much as possible.

My Superobjective

I just want to be loved.

Lesson 3 - 22.09.15

This lesson was heavily based on our script and marking beat changes.

Uniting

We began by looking at Uniting and what it consists of.

We first started by stating that 'Drama is conflict'; by this we mean that there are highs and lows, and also characters are complex meaning that there is more beneath the characters than what the audience see on stage.

By making beat changes, we can clearly communicate the changes in thought and mood to the audience. A beat is a section of the text in which mini objectives are pursued and attained or blocked, therefore changing the dynamic of the action.

Beats are often marked by a colon or a dash; they often mean the exit or entrance of a character, a change of subject matter, a silence, a moment of inaction, or a change in character behaviour.

Effective beats should show when we peace them together and they flow seamlessly, making a strong structure.

Stanislavsky asked the actors to give each section a title to remember them (almost a poetic title or something which is emotionally rooted, meaning it shouldn't just be a normal, logical description.

Rehearsing Individually

For the remainder of the lesson, after marking and naming our beat changes, we were given the opportunity to rehearse our scenes with our scene partners.

As I play Thea with two seperate groups of people, we all went to a music practice room and began to rehearse.

I found this time to be quite useful as it gave us an opportunity to gather some ideas on how we all thought the scenes could be played out. This also gave us time to learn our lines with someone to respond to instead of learning them on your own.

However, the issue that rose was that I often found it quite hard to focus when I was with a group of friends without the guidance of a teacher although overall we got quite a bit of work done.

Emotion Memory Task

In another part of our lesson, we did an emotion memory task. We lay in semisupine with our eyes closed while Jack was talking to us about memories.

He asked us to pick a memory where we were most happy with our lives, a time where there was nothing to worry about and we were just happy.

He went on to talking about how happy we feel and how we would be feeling 'golden' and 'glowing'.

Although I understood why this exercise would be effective for using my emotion memory in scenes, I found that this exercise did not work for me. This is because I struggled to find a memory because I then went back and thought of a negative memory that followed, or my happy memory was interrupted by me remembering a negative memory, which then affected my mood in a bad way instead of a good way. I feel as if the exercise would have been easier for me if I did less overthinking.

Lesson 2 - 15.09.15

In today's lesson, we did a variety of activities, from Naturalism exercises to recieving our parts in Hedda Gabler.

Walking around the room

We started our lesson off by walking around the room with our normal pace. When asked to walk 'normally', I have realised that my legs then all of a sudden forget how I usually walk for a bit before they get back into the typical rhythm of my walking.

Continuing walking, we were then asked to rate our pace from 1 to 5 (5 being very quick); as I have small legs, I usually have to move my legs very quickly in order to keep up with my friends however, since they are small steps, I do not travel as fast as my legs go therefore I rated my pace to be at a level 4.

We then were asked to rate our concentration level from 1 to 5 (5 being very intense). Unless I am in a rush to be somewhere, my thoughts are not very overcrowded as I tend to relax while I am walking so I rated my concentration level to be at a level 2.

I found it interersting that my pace and my concentration levels did not match as physically I look like I am having very intense thoughts however mentally, I am very relaxed in the way that I think.

This has taught me about how complex many characters are in the way that they may look and think differently to each other therefore giving the characters many layers that I must take into consideration when playing different characters. 

Naturalism exercise

We were first told to stand in a space facing the window. In this exercise, the window acted as the train tracks, while the space that we were standing in acted as the train platform.

We were first told that we were all waiting for the train but then the train was delayed. Although this was just an exercise, it made me begin to feel tense as it reminded me of how frustrated I usually get when I hear that the train is delayed. The light above acted as the board with the train times on it and I all of a sudden fell into my habit of continuously looking at the board to check how much time had passed and how much longer the train was going to be. To show how impatient I was, I began to do actions, such as shaking my leg, to show my impatience.

Jack later told us there was a rat on the tracks. Although I don't have anything against rats, I began to feel nervous as I cannot imagine myself enjoying the feeling of a rat close to me. When we were then told that the rat had climbed up the wires and was now on the platform, my first instinct was to run away, however I was then reminded of the other people on the platform and how I wouldn't like to embarrass myself in front of them, although they were strangers, so I just moved my feet slightly to avoid the rat.

The next thing that happened was that there was an attractive male, who had just woken up  naked with his curtains open, on the bottom flat of the block of flats nearby. At first, it was obvious that I had seen him and that I was looking at them, however I then realised that it would be embarrassing, not only for them but, for me to be seen watching them so I moved my head down, moving it up occassionally to look at them.

We were then told that there was a man on the other side of the tracks 'time-roping' across the platform, possibly drunk. My mind and heart began racing at the thought however I did not want to move as that could put me in a position of danger. The panic registered on my face however I felt frozen and powerless. My concentration level at this point was 5! Soon after, the train came and the man was gone.

I began to feel very sad that I just watched a man die although the attractive male was then on my platform standing next to me. Even though they were standing next to me, I felt as if my mind were in two places as I still felt upset.

When the train finally came, I felt a wave of relief. The attractive male then smiled at me and improved my mood however the doors then closed and the train left them on the platform.

In this exercise, I really felt as if I was using previous experiences (eg. trains being cancelled) in my acting as I can clearly remember how I usually feel when I see that my train has been cancelled. I finished the exercise feeling almost distressed due to the mix of different emotions that I had encountered throughout. This has taught me a lot about concentration and energy levels and how they differ in certain situations.

Recieving play parts

We were then given our parts in Hedda Gabler. I was given the part of Thea Elvsted.

In my following blog posts, I will show my character research and my character development.

Reading the play

For the rest of the lesson, we all read our parts when we read the play.

I found this really interesting to experience since it helped me to visualise the characters even clearer due to the vocal choices the cast made.

At certain parts, I felt as if it was quite confusing to follow as the characters' voices kept changing as the cast would change however I enjoyed comparing the different choices and approaches the actor's took when given the script.