TASK ONE
UNDERSTANDING PRACTITIONERS
To understand a practitioner you must understand the reasons for their method. Over the past two years we have studied a few practitioners and did plenty of research to implement it into our performances.
A practitioner we did a lesson on was Sanford Meisner. Meisner was an American actor and teacher, who developed his own technique which would be dubbed 'the Meisner technique'. Meisner's unusual techniques were seen as 'unorthodox' yet 'effective'. The three main components of the Meisner technique are: emotional preparation, repetition and improvisation. Meisner believed it was obligatory for an actor to practise with emotional preparation- to really become the character you're portraying the actor needs circumstance and a full emotional landscape to develop a complex character. Things such as: likes, dislikes, conflicts etc need to be considered. This enforces a deeper connection with the character you're playing. When this technique is used it allows the actor to genuinely feel the raw emotions of the character, rather than it seeming fake or like it is being acted. It's authentic emotions. Meisner's goal with his approach is to get actors to focus on their scene partners and environment rather than themselves. The goal is to react to the given stimuli and the actors to trust their instincts to get a really authentic performance.
When we were taught about Meisner, we enforced his technique into our performances and practised what he taught. One of the most effective techniques I have tried as an actor is the repetition component. I partnered up with a student, we faced away from each other, and person A would turn to them and say a fact about their partner. For example, if your partner had freckles you would say "You have freckles". Then the partner would repeat back, "I have freckles". This would continue until it became natural. I found this particularly helpful, as we were bouncing off each other and my partners expressions made me settle into the tone of the conversation.
Stanislavski is a very
well known theatre practitioner; he directed a variety of productions which led
him to be so familiar. He was broadly recognised as an outstanding character
actor. His work has been very influential over the years, and people still
consistently practise his techniques today. Stanislavski was the founder of the
Moscow Art Theatre, which was opened in 1898. He was a Russian actor, director
and producer along with founding this theatre. He is most notorious for
creating and evolving system/theory of acting entitled the 'Stanislavski
system' of the 'Stanislavski method'. Although it is very complex, the main
goal of the 'Stanislavski system' (or method) was to portray characters to be
natural and believable on stage. This was a huge contrast compared to the other
thespians of 19th century Russia- character were often played as being over the
top and grand during this time. Stanislavski was developing a new way of
acting, and many people refer to him as the father of todays style of acting.
He wanted to teach a way of acting which immerses people into the character,
and becomes them. From a young age
Stanislavski was involved with theatre. His mother was in-fact the daughter of
a French actress, so the influence of theatre and acting was there from a young
age. As I previously mentioned he was apart of theatricals as a young boy; the
first time he appeared on his parents stage, he was 14. He joined 'Alekseyev
Circle' a dramatic group which was organised by his family. There were many
important figures in his life which motivated and influenced him. When
Stanislavski first studied in the Moscow Theatre School, he did not enjoy the
approach it took. He didn't like how the students were expected to follow all
the instructions and conventions from the tutors. This led him to the Maly
Theatre, where he learned how to be more fresh, and where he learned to take in
the energy from the other stage players. He learned this from foreign artists,
such as: Salvini and Duse. He believed that they were powerful- he thought they
amplified graceful movements. Some other major influences were Shchepkin and
Gogol. They worked together in the Maly Theatre a whole generation before
Stanislavski- he gained the natural and real approach to acting from them. In
terms of collaboration, Chekov was (among) the first to be a shareholder in the
Theatre company which Stanislavski owned. Although they did have major
differences this saved the play right and theatre company. The playright's
first production failed, and left Chekov disillusioned- he announced a
retirement. However Stanislavski's partner at MXAT convinced Chekov to allow
restaging under Stanislavski's direction and with his dramatic force detailed
analysis of play- it was a massive success. The theatrical purpose of
Stanislavski- as previously mentioned, his techniques paved the acting methods
of today. He wanted to portray natural and realistic characters on stage. He
wanted real and raw emotions to be shown on stage, and he wanted the actors to
delve into the character and really become them. His techniques were developed
in the early 1900's.
Stanislavski is one of
the most influential practitioners to this day. I use Stanislavski’s techniques
without actually realising it, as it’s just what I have grown to know. I love
the naturalistic approach to theatre acting as it was often only seen as big
and pantomime like.
MONOLOGUES
Back in year one, we had a monologue writing competition. I am a fan of writing therefore I jumped onto this quickly. Our stimulus was simply just lockdown. It could be any genre and any type of character but it HAD to be based on the Corona Virus Lockdowns. We could enter up to 4 and they had to be 1-3 minutes. I decided to write a more dramatic and emotionally driven piece, as that's how I view lockdown. Personally, it was a rather tough time so I thought it would be a good outlet and a good way to challenge myself as at this time I hadn't pushed myself to do monologues and it was out of my comfort zone. We had 2 weeks to complete our writing of our monologue/s. I chose to only do one monologue as this was new territory for me and I wanted to ensure I did a good job without overwhelming myself.
My monologue was entitled 'Countdown' and I decided to base it around the mental health difficulties during lockdown, and how it feels to be trapped in isolation. I wanted to do a dramatic monologue as I haven't really delved into this genre yet, and I felt this was a good opportunity to.
Monologue Competition - Countdown - YouTube
My main experience with monologues is from auditioning for various shows. My first big monologue was from the end of Year 1 show 'Stuff'. The monologue was used for my audition. At this point I'd never performed a monologue in college due to lockdown, so it was a big and scary moment for me. We did face to face auditions and self tapes. Very luckily, I got the role- so I would be performing this monologue in front of my class which was nerve wracking. However I quickly became better and better with direction and self navigation. To prepare for this audition, I read through my monologue daily for around an hour until I nailed the words. Once I started finding my feet, I would make audio recordings of me performing the monologue. I'd relisten and think of ways to improve. Once I felt I'd tackled the speech, I practised in front of a mirror and also filmed it (sort of like a self tape) so I could see which areas needed improving visually.
The second audition monologue I performed was Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Violet's monologue was a huge push as it included an American accent, and was very big as it is children's theatre. Our previous show 'The Witches' was also childrens theatre but I did not have a monologue, so it was still pretty new to me. To prepare for this audition, I rewatched both renditions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and I reread the book. We decided we wanted to take inspiration more from the 1971 version, so I focused heavily on that. I watched the whole film to focus on Violet and analyse her movement and style, even if it wasn't her line. Then I'd individually watch her main scenes to really get a sense of her character. In terms of learning it, I did my usual routine of rereading it until the words stick, then audio recording it and finally filming it. I also performed it to some of my peers and teachers for further feed back to improve.
Although I did not get this role, I believe I gave a good rendition of it and worked extremely hard.
My third audition was Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This was on the same day as Violet's. The process was the same with these two monologues as I was doing the auditions on the same day.
However, out of the two auditions I feel as though Violet was better. Veruca pushed me, as it was a very loud dialogue in the way I performed it as a spoiled brat, however I feel like I could've done more with my face and my body to further develop this performance.
DEVISING
Devising is one of my stronger techniques that i use more often. Devising is a good way to challenge your creativeness and think of things outside of the box.
One of the most challenging devising tasks I have done is for charlie and the chocolate factory. The ensemble had to think of a way to stage the childrens ‘death’ scenes, so Augustus going up the pipe, Violet becoming a blueberry, Veruca and the squirrels, and finally Mike Teavee going into the television. This was rather difficult as these scenes are some of the most important ones in the script, and we had to make them good. We spent time as a group brainstorming ideas as to how we could stage them. We experimented in different ways with different ideas. We considered different elements such as physicality.
Our first initial plan for Veruca was to have the actor going down a slide, as if she was pushed into the hole like it is originally. However after doing measurements in the theatre with the platforms and set we had, we realised that this idea was not going to work. So instead we placed a crash mat beneath the platform and the actor fell through the platform and disappeared. Additionally, for the part where the actual squirrels take her, she got dragged behind a curtain by them as we obviously didn’t have real squirrels. The final thing we had to consider for this scene, was the squirrels. We considered hand puppets and finger puppets, but after researching and looking online the chances were slim. Then we thought about squirrel costumes but the outcome was the same. In the end, we put a projection of squirrels on the projector, and had the Oompa Loompas come out and place the ‘good nuts’ and ‘bad nuts’ into bins.
For Violet, there was a lot to think about as the characters skin colour changes to purple and she blows up. So our first thought was purple lighting, which we did use in the shows. Since Kelly has performed this show before, she already had a blow up Violet costume. The plan was to have the other casts Violet dressed in the blown up costume for the end of the scene. However, cast one’s Violet couldn’t do the show due to Covid, so we only had one Violet. We had to change this plan, and put cast one’s Mrs Beauragarde as Violet and a film student as Violet on the other night.
Augustus was a whole different kettle of fish to think about, as he goes up a pipe. We knew we needed to figure out a way to have a chocolate river for this scene. We got a bucket, and painted the Wonka Logo on it. Then we got a piece of long, brown fabric and attached it to the bucket. We placed it on top of the platform so there was a river.
Now for the actual going into the pipe, we used tech. We did flashing lights and a black out, mixed with some pyrotechnics so the actor could quickly get behind the chocolate river without the audience seeing it. Finally, we used a projection of Augustus going up the pipe on the projector to finish off the scene. For Mike Teavee, this was more technical. As we were using projections, we figured this would be the best idea for this particular scene as he goes inside a television. During the first half of the scene, a large chocolate bar is placed inside the machine, and we used the use of projections to show its change in size. When Mike goes into the television, we used flashing lights to dramatize the sequence further.
Additionally for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we had to devise the chants. As many of us are not dancers or singers, we had to figure the chants out in a way which would be comfortable for everybody in the ensemble, but we still wanted it to be fun.
The first thing we did in terms of the chants is figure out where each of the children are from.
This is what we came up with:
Augustus= Germany
Veruca= London
Violet= America
Mike= Scotland
Charlie= Stockton
Now based off of these decisions, we could make the chant accordingly to each child.
For Augustus, we listened to different traditional German songs and research traditional German traditions that we could possibly include within this chant. For our initial idea, we wanted the Oompa Loompa's in the red/white striped shirt and some form of jeans or dungarees. Once we chose the song, we then looked for some traditional German dances we could incorporate into our piece. We practised with some of the hand coordinated dances and expanded on them. We then moved onto the more complex dances. After doing our research, Ethan and Emily then lead the dance and completed the full routine. We began to think up a chant, that flowed with the beat of the song, which I personally think worked very well. Next up, we started to do the Violet chant. As we decided Violet was American, we decided to go with a Cheerleading theme to match her athletic background. We looked at different beats that were fun and upbeat. Justin and Tamara were the leads of this chant. The first thing they did was the dance side of it. It was fun, fast and thrilling for the audience. Secondly, the chant was made to the beat of the song that matched the pace of the dance too. The Veruca chant was devised by Charley and Rebecca. As Veruca was a posh girl, the theme was ballroom to emphasise this. Finally, the Mike Teavee dance was made by Magen and partially me as we devised the idea together. When we brainstormed the chant, we wanted to make it robotic to show how Mike is constantly watching television and playing games. We wanted it to be sort of animatronic. As for the chant, I found the song and Magen adapted the script to this.
In lesson, we often devise scenes as a way to connect with a script we're doing. Still, on the topic of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we devised a scene on the children entering the factory for the first time. Five actors left who would be the children, then 3 groups made up their own scene that they would walk into. Then, we joined all the scenes together to make one big scene of the children and Willy Wonka in the factory.
Additionally, we devised the opening sequence of the show.
MEMORISING
Memorisation is one of the most integral parts of being an actor. Line learning is extremely important as you won't be able to perform without knowing the lines.
The first step I take with learning lines is reading the whole script from start to finish a few times, to get a feel of every character I'll be interacting with and their personality.
After I have read the script, I will highlight my specific lines, and go through them. I analyse each line, circling specific words to emphasise that will develop the delivery of each line. I will then jot down what the character is feeling, and any physical of facial gestures and expressions I may implement during my speech.
Once I have finished this, I read my stage directions, thinking about how I may enter and exit in different parts of the script and what my motivations are.
When the script is fully annotated, I will read it for a couple of hours each day. Once I am familiar with my lines, I will audio record my lines, leaving gaps where other characters will speak. Once I have recorded them, I will listen to them and think of lines that I could improve. Once I have developed my line delivery, I will then start practising my lines in the mirror, experimenting with different expressions and movements to fit my character.
TED TALKS
Practitioner: Brecht
Brecht's beliefs were that classical approaches to theatre were escapist- however Brecht was far more interested in facts and reality than escaping. Brecht's work was very popular back from the 50's to the 70s and many believed he changed the face of theatre today. Brecht was a Marxist, his work was often highly politically driven, hence why he liked making the audience question. He wanted the audience to think about the world they lived in rather than getting engrossed in a fake fairy tale story on stage. His work was described as ironic, provocative and mischievous. As Brecht wanted his audience members be objective during his performances so they could form their own opinion on the politics being displayed in front of them, he invented his own techniques called epic theatre. Epic theatre was political theatre, though further into his career Brecht preferred to call it dialectal theatre. He didn't necessarily believe a good theatre performance had to be tidy with a distinguished plot and story, but rather confronting the audience with conflict and leaving them with uncomfortable questions, which is were Epic theatre begins. Brecht did not want the audience to become attached to the characters, so he used the alienation effect. Things this included was: breaking the fourth wall, montage, narration, use of music, limited set and coming out of character.
Question: Can everybody act?
Many people have to partake in drama at school, or their mums put them in a drama group when they’re 5 as a hobby but, can everybody act? is acting a taught talent, or do you have to be born with the gift?
There’s a common misconception in todays society that acting is a very easy, simple job. though this is simply not the truth. there is a lot of hard work, grit and determination that goes into this profession. but is everybody cut out for this?
To become a good actor you need to nail the techniques. acting isn’t reading a script and repeating the lines back, you need to execute the line delivery. many things go into this: delivery, projection for stage acting, comedic timing, emotional execution.
The public only see the money, awards and fame side of being an actor. But what they don't see is the sleepless nights, the cut-throat rejections, countless auditions for drama schools and university's, travelling for auditions that you might not get.
Acting is a skill, and like most skills; its aided by a natural talent. However, you need to put in the effort to master your skill. Anyone technically can learn acting- but it takes a long time and a lot of hard work and commitment.
To become an actor, you have to be open and ready to learn. You need to freely express yourself.
Acting is a tough but extremely rewarding, and most importantly, fun career choice. A lot of people dream to be actors and join the elite of Hollywood A-listers, but the path is not for everybody. As for natural talent, it certainly helps to be born with the ability to perform. But acting is also something that can be learned and mastered through lots of practice and with the right mindset. With passion and enthusiasm, you can be a great actor, even if it doesn't come naturally.
A passion for performing and entertaining is a key quality, and a good actor should be wanting to pursue the career for reasons not regarding fame and fortune. A good actor will perform convincingly and connect with audiences. They need physicality to convey the emotions, motivations, and intentions of a character through physical movement as well as speech.
The truth is, you need to get past the confidence barrier to consider being an actor.
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