The Art of Acting: A Study of Methods
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A Research Study
Presented to the Department of Arts and Sciences
of Westminster Choir College
of Rider University
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In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for Bachelor of Arts in Music
********
by
Randall P. Woodruff
May 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION
The Problem
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Study
Limitations
Definition of Terms
Organization of the Study
II. REVIEW OF THE RELATED DATA
III. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND DISCUSSIONS
Summary
Conclusion
Discussion
Works Cited
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
CHAPTER I
Introduction
I. THE PROBLEM
The art of the stage actor is the most subjective, abstract process of all the arts. Musicians, painters, and dancers all have to develop a technique that is rooted in aesthetic tradition and proven by the masters of their fields. Historically, the techniques of great actors have not been expressed in written form, and their performances lost after the moment of their occurrence. There is, of course, a reason for this lack of information. Actors are dealing with the most elusive and transient medium possible- human emotions. The idea that one should have something as organized as a “technique” or “method” for dealing with these emotions seems somewhat contradictory. But that is what makes the theater art- the marriage of emotion and intellect, the ability to use our humanity in a meaningful way.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the ideas of several of the most influential teachers of acting. Constantin Stanislavskiwas really the first to map out a definite method that can be employed in specific ways for any given role. He revolutionized the way we think of acting, but he was only the beginning. Many brilliant thinkers have since shed light on this most mysterious art form. Many have branched off from Stanislavski’s ideas, some have developed their own acting language, and others claim to be anti- method. Based on the review of the available data, the writer concludes that an acting technique is absolutely essential for the actor’s continued growth as an artist; and that no one particular method is the best or holds all the answers. It is the responsibility of each actor to examine the techniques, and make informed decisions, in order to better his performance.
The following limitations are noted:
I. Because many of the examples and exercises given by the authors are physical gestures demonstrated in front of a class, the reader must infer the exact nuance of each example. Some misunderstanding may occur due to a lack of visual demonstration.
II. The subject is inherently subjective and prone to each author’s bias.
II. Definition of Terms
The A- effect: The alienation effect produced by a certain acting technique designed by Bertolt Brecht. Brecht wanted to distance both the audience and the actors from all emotional elements of a play, so that its unique and particular qualities would be realized.
Acting technique: The process by which an actor trains his various abilities- physical, emotional, and intellectual awareness to be combined in performance.
Affective Memory: A controversial technique developed by Stanislavski and emphasized by Strasberg . Actors were to use their own personal past experiences to stimulate certain emotions during performance. Many actors have refused to use this claiming that it takes them out of the circumstances of the actual play.
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Atmosphere: The realm of feelings , or “heart- beat”, that encompasses a performance. It is the “mood” that surrounds the actors, without being created by any particular actor. Michael Chekhov uses this concept as a major component of his acting philosophy.
Characterization: One of the elements of an acting technique that involves exploring and making decisions about the specific attributes of a dramatic character.
Cliché: A contrived, copied outward expression of an emotion that has no specific relation to the character being played. The aim of an acting technique is to avoid the cliché.
Concentration: An important aspect of an actor’s success is his ability to remain focused on the reality of the stage. This allows his body and emotional responses to be more free and spontaneous.
The Method: Derived from Staninslavski’s “System,” the Method has come to refer to Strasberg’s interpretation and training program for actors. It is based on the actor’s cultivation of an inner and outer technique .
Objective: The character’s goal within each scene. An actor must know and understand what the character wants at each point in the play. The super-objective is the overriding task the character wants to accomplish, and the objective is each small step that he takes toward that goal.
Psychological gesture: Chekhov’s term for the outward manifestation of a character’s psychological state.
Rhythm: The underlying pace or timing of a scene. This does not necessarily mean the speed of the dialogue. It involves the flow of emotional interaction.
Sense Memory: The recall of physical sensations and the ability to reproduce these on stage.
Substitution: Similar to Strasberg’s “affective memory,” but used in a broader sense by teacher Uta Hagen.
Subtext: The inner meaning and emotional underpinning to stage dialogue that stems from the circumstances of the characters.
The Will: The character’s ability to envision the attainment of his objective.
ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This study consists of three chapters and an appendix. Included in the first chapter are explanations of the problem along with definitions of relevant terms and an explanation of the organization of the study.
The Essay on Method Acting Character Actor Methods
Method Acting Jennifer Farrell There are many diverse methods and approaches to acting, each actor uses the things he has learned and creates his own unique way of playing and interpreting a role. Using the things he has learned, he can find his own weaknesses and strong points and therefore creating this method that belongs to him only. But before the actor can learn his own method, he must study ...
Chapter two reports a review of the available data. Included are reasons as to why it is important for an actor to have a solid technique, and how one is to choose a certain method. Constantin Stanislavski’s System will be examined, along with the techniques of his protegees. Finally, the techniques of teachers who rejected the Stanislavski-based system will be examined.
Chapter three contains a summary of the study, a listing of conclusions, and a discussion of their implications.
The appendices consist of, but are not limited to, exercises for improving concentration and imagination, and some teachers’ opinions of the work of their colleagues.
CHAPTER II
The review of the related literature having relevance for this study is divided into three parts: the need for an acting technique; the Stanislavski method and its branches of thought; and the teachers of anti-Method.
I. THE NEED FOR TECHNIQUE
“Let the artist live, let him be enchanted,
disappointed, happy; let him suffer, love,
and live through the entire gamut of human emotions,
but let him at the same time learn to recreate his life
and his emotions into art!” -Stanislavski
All humans begin as actors. When at play, children immerse themselves in fantasy, in the powers of their imaginations. They are not self-conscious and readily bring others into the sphere of their created world. But as adulthood grows closer, they begin to lose this naïve quality of belief that is so essential for good acting. “The naïve faith of going with the imagination which is so wonderful in the child has been knocked out of him. The relation between ‘what I think’ and ‘what I say’ has been inhibited.” (Strasberg, 79) The traits of a full-fleshed human being take over the most innocent quality of an actor.
Of course, acting is not so simple as a child’s playtime, but the ability to believe in a made-up reality is fundamental to the art of acting. Thus, when actors begin their training they must undo many a bad habit, and technique is a way of breaking down these walls of human defense.
There is no question that the another important element in good acting is the talent of the actor. Without a creative personality and a perceptive eye, art cannot be created. But even the most talented actors have problems that prevent them from expressing emotions that can be convincingly conveyed to an audience. Many great actors have found certain performances to be much better than others, without being able to explain why- and many times, without being able to repeat them. What does the actor do to reach this ultimate state of acting, when he believes in his make-believe situation and is free to express? How can we understand this process if even the actor who performed it does not? Is any attempt to explain this evasive art form destined for failure?
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“There is a greater lack of understanding and misinformation about the nature of this craft than in any of the other arts, including the notion that acting is merely intuitive, entailing no craft at all.” (Hagen, 35.)
The enemy of good acting is the idea that anyone can do it, without thorough training of the actor’s facilities. The result of this idea is a theater peopled with ineffective imitators, actors who survive on cliché performances with no depth of feeling or thought. The actor’s tools or instruments are all within his own body and mind and heart, and they must be trained as do other artists. “And then I saw our profession is even more difficult than any other, because we have only one instrument to convey to the audience our feelings, our emotions, our ideas- our own body. It is terrifyingly true.” (Chekhov, Lessons for the Professional Actor, 23.)
According to Stanislavski and his followers, a strong training program and a definite technique is what actors need most. “Technique exists above all for those who possess talent and inspiration…It serves consciously to stimulate superconscious creativity. The more talent an actor has the more he cares about his technique.” (Stanislavski, An Actor’s Handbook, 139.)
The first step in any training is to develop the physical body of the actor. It is primarily through physical gestures that an actor will communicate his psychological state. “The first is the education of the body, the whole physical apparatus, of every muscle and sinew.” (Boleslavski, 27) An actor must have control over his instrument, so that it is resonant and open to tiny nuances of emotion. Without this the audience will not understand the intentions or motivations of the actor. Chekhov states that the body must absorb psychological qualities, so that it becomes like a sensitive membrane capable of the most subtle impulses. (Chekhov, To the Actor, 2)
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The actor must also train his inner technique as well. As already mentioned, it is the function of the body to express the psychological state. Without a fully developed emotional palate to work from, the body is merely posing, and becomes empty cliché. Neither technique comes first, rather the external and internal must work hand in hand.
There are as many acting philosophies and techniques as there are actors. To choose one method of training is a daunting task for an actor. But if one is truly talented, the technique employed on the stage should complement the actor’s natural abilities and stimulate him to action. “Training develops talent. It helps the actor get rid of bad habits. It teaches him ways of controlling his talent. It helps him to develop a personal technique. But technique does not enable the actor to act anymore than breath control enables him to breathe.” (Strasberg, 130) Technique can only help the actor develop the raw talent that he already possesses.
II. Stanislavski and his Followers
“The first time Stanislavski appeared on a stage
he was a small child, and managed to burn down the set.
This event foreshadowed the very different way
in which he would set the theater on fire
in his later life.”
(Brestoff, 18)
Stanislavski has been considered the most important figure in the history of acting. (Brestoff, 17) As a young child he was able to attend various theatrical events, ranging from the circus to the opera stage. As he began his professional work in the theater, he realized that there was a severe lack of literature on the nuts and bolts of acting. No one had written down a concise program of study that a young actor like himself could follow:
“What exercises resembling solfeggi are needed by him?
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What scales, what appreggi for the development of
creative feeling and experience are required by the actor?
They must be given numbers, just like the problems
in a mathematical textbook, for systematic exercise
in the school and at home. All books and works for theater
are silent on this score. There is no practical textbook.”
(Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 167)
Stanislavski himself wanted to write this practical textbook for the benefit of all actors.
Through critical observation of other actors as well as his own stage work, Stanislavski began to take note of the qualities that seemed to make successful performances. The first observation he made was that great actors had a minimum of physical tension on the stage. Their bodies were responsive and able to freely express emotion. Relaxation was necessary for the actor to reach his potential. “…In an artistic condition, full freedom of body plays a principle role; i.e., the freedom from that muscular strain which, without knowing it, fetters us not only on the stage but also in ordinary life, hindering us from being obedient conductors of our psychic action.” (Cole, 24)
Of course some amount of tension is required in order to support our bodies. Stanislavski refers to unnecessary bodily tension that cuts off the power of the voice or hinders the actor’s natural creative impulses. An actor must be aware of his bodily tension, and can work to diminish it through yoga and other exercises.
Another quality that works in conjunction with relaxation is the actor’s ability to concentrate. In the reality of everyday life, people are always concentrated on something, whether it be an inanimate object, a thought, or a physical feeling. When onstage, the actor must always have his concentration on the reality of the stage. He must be so involved with the truth of the play that the audience is drawn into his world.
“Suppose that you are playing. The curtain goes up and your
first problem is to listen to the sound of a departing car. You must
do it in such a way that the thousand people in the theater who at
that moment are each concentrating on some particular object-
one on the stock exchange, one on home worries, one on politics,
one on a dinner or the pretty girl in the next chair- in such a way
that they know and feel immediately that their concentration
is less important than yours, though you are concentrating only
on the sound of a departing car….Nobody dares to disturb a
painter at his work, and it is the actor’s own fault if he allows the
public to interfere with his creation.” (Boleslavski, 26)
Concentration allows the body and the mind to relax and become responsive to the action and characters onstage. This is what draws the audience in, what makes them feel as if what they are experiencing is “real.” This is what actors refer to as “being in the moment,” the most desirable state for a convincing performance. If an actor is relaxed and his energy is concentrated on an object, it also creates the illusion that the action is happening for the first time. Strasberg states that although the conditions of acting demand that you know beforehand the outcome of events, convincing acting demands that you should appear not to know. Concentration allows this illusion to take shape. (See Appendix A)
Another aspect of this system that is linked to concentration is the actor’s imagination. No person on the stage can be convincing without this talent. “The actor must feel the challenge physically as well as intellectually because the imagination…can reflexively affect our physical nature and make it act…Not a step should be taken on the stage without the cooperation of your imagination.” (Stanislavski, An Actor’s Handbook, 76) Everything depends on this facility. An actor, when beginning a role, must be able to ask himself how one would act in the situation given by the playwright. This is Stanislavski’s “Magic If,” or the ‘Given Circumstances.’
The given circumstances encompass everything the actor knows about his character and his character’s relationships to others on the stage. Imagination is activated by the actor’s discovery of these circumstances. The actor must begin to answer not only how anyone would act in the given circumstances, but how and why does his character act in a particular way? As soon as the actor employs the word “if,” he is able to enter a new realm of reality, through his imagination.
“The playwright only gives us some of the moments of the
character’s life. It’s up to us to create the moments that are
implied…Stanislavski asks the actor to be a novelist. To fill in
all those past, present and even future times that the playwright
doesn’t have time to show. They must still be part of the inner
makeup of the characters we portray, however.”
(Brestoff, 40)
All these concepts are what truly gifted actors instinctively know. When combined, they serve to bring the actor to the correct emotional level for any scene he may be portraying. The reason Stanislavski emphasizes the cultivation and development of these abilities is that they are the vehicle to reach emotional expression. If an actor concentrates on having an emotion, the emotion will surely disappear. Our emotional lives do not work on command, they are a result of life circumstances. “…Because emotions do not come to order. By no effort of conscious will can one awake them in oneself at a moment, nor can they ever be of use for creative genius striving to bring this about by searching the depths of his mind.” (Cole, 26) When an actor’s emotions are awakened by the combined efforts of his relaxation, concentration, imagination, Magic If, and knowledge of circumstances, then his entire mind, body, and heart is engaged in his craft. This is superior acting.
Stanislavski did indeed create a practical manual for actors. However, many of his followers emphasized certain aspects of his technique over others. Michael Chekhov was one of Stanislavski’s most devoted and talented students. (Chekhov, Lessons for the Professional Actor, Introduction p.12) They were not in agreement much of the time, however. Chekhov felt Stanislavski did not emphasize the imagination to a great enough degree. He believed in a more intuitive, abstract form of character development than did his teacher.
Chekhov began to speak of “atmospheres” and “qualities” when teaching his own classes.
APPENDIX A
CHEKHOV’S EXERSISES FOR CONCENTRATION AND IMAGINATION
Exercises for Concentration:
1. Study the wallpaper pattern so that you can describe or reproduce it
accurately.
III. Listen to a sound.
IV. Do an arithmetic problem mentally.
V. Select and follow a single sound out of a confusion of noise.
VI. Do several activities in succession: look at the pictures in a magazine, listen to music, dance, do arithmetic problems. Then turn rapidly from one activity to the next, making sure that the transference of attention each time is complete and genuine.
VII. Note, in a few seconds, as many details as possible of someone’s clothes.
VIII. Concentrate on an idea or problem. Five or six people ask questions which must be answered without having the attention waver from this idea.
IX. Master the contents of a book while others talk, laugh, and try to break up the conversation.
X. Concentrate on a tune in your head while other music is being played.
Exercises for Imagination:
1. Look for resemblances between objects and people;between people and animals.
2. Concretize music in fantastic images.
3. Given one word, or two, extemporize on them; do the same exercise within a pre-determined mood.
4. One person make a series of sounds of different kinds. Those who do the exercise sit with their backs to the first person and weave the sounds into a continuous story.
5. Break up into sections some route you follow frequently; imagine a story connected with each section; weave all these stories into a continuous plot.
6. Take a person whom you know little about; try to picture his life in full detail.
7. Let someone give you a word; try to fixate the impression, that is, your first reaction to it; then try to convey this impression in whatever way you can.
8. Try to discover beauty everywhere: in every posture, position, thought, scene. This exercise is very important. A creative person must be able to see and extract beauty from things which a non-creative person overlooks entirely; and he must see beauty first, not deformity.
Chekhov, Michael.
APPENDIX B
METHOD TEACHERS ON BRECHT
“Brecht has been built up into the archapostle of antirealism. We must realize that Bracht’s theater is not anything like that. Brecht called his theater the theater of epic realism. Everything on the stage is real. Everything on the stage is natural. Theatrical elements are used only when something has to be done which cannot be done as well any other way.”
-Strasberg,
Bibliography
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Cole, Toby. Acting: A Handbook of the Stanislavsky Method.
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Chekhov, Michael. Lessons for the Professional Actor. The Johns
Hopkins University Press, Performing Arts Publications Journal,
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Chekhov, Michael. To the Actor. New York: Harper & Row, 1953.
Ed. Dixon, Michael Bigelow and Smith, Joel A. Anne Bogart:
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Hagen, Uta. A Challenge for the Actor. New York: Scribner, 1991.
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