Acting with Anatoly, Part Two -- Lesson 8

BioMethod * virtual theatre * Fundamentals of Acting II *

Acting:

[ topics: ]

acting for the camera =

stanislavsky.us

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ShowCases: 3 Sisters, Mikado, 12th Night, Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Dangerous Liaisons, Don Juan

Dionysis -- Biomechanics

Method -- Apollo

Summary

Stanislavsky: "In the creative process there is the father, the author of the play; the mother, the actor pregnant with the part; and the child, the role to be born."

Questions

2005: Total Acting & Total Directing *

Notes

directories: Method Index * Theatre w/Anatoly * Theatre Books * 1. Character * 2. Role * 3. Actor * 4. Workbook * Biomechanics * Theatre Theory * Classes *

Acting II

Simposia, Discussion, Feedback

Dionysos:
Apollo:
Meyerhold:
Stanislavsky:

On the Technique of Acting by Michael Chekhov

Michael Chekhov, nephew to the Russian playwright and student of Stanislavski, left Russia and his mentor behind to pursue a career as an actor, director, and teacher in Europe and America. While he was an early advocate of Stanislavski, Chekhov differed from the great teacher in important respects, particularly in his insistence on the use of imagination as opposed to memory in creating a role. (In a famous anecdote, Chekhov once performed a "sense memory" exercise in which he broke down over the tragic death of his aunt. When complimented on the truthfulness of his emotion, he admitted that his "aunt" was entirely imaginary.) One of Chekhov's innovations of technique is the "psychological gesture," in which a repeated external action leads to an internal revelation. Due to his insistence on the importance of the physical rather than the simply intellectual, Chekhov's book is as focused on following its series of exercises as it is in study; acting, he would remind us, is always fundamentally a verb. For actors who feel "hemmed in" by an overinsistence on "feeling" a part or in drawing from their own experiences to feed a role, Chekhov's focus on the primal and limitless nature of imagination is tremendously liberating.

2004 & After
projects:
texts:
in focus:
reading:
Links

PS

Polls:

HamletDreams 2001

Tests for Actors:

How to Stop Acting by Harold Guskin

Harold Guskin is an �acting doctor� whose clients include Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, James Gandolfini, Bridget Fonda, and dozens more. In How to Stop Acting, Guskin reveals the insights and techniques that have worked wonders for beginners as well as stars. Instead of yet another �method,� Guskin offers a strategy based on a radically simple and refreshing idea: that the actor�s work is not to �create a character� but rather to be continually, personally responsive to the text, wherever his impulse takes him, from first read-through to final performance. From this credo derives an entirely new perspective on auditioning and the challenge of developing a role and keeping it fresh, even over hundreds of performances. Drawing on examples from his clients� work and his own, Guskin presents acting as a constantly evolving exploration rather than as a progression toward a fixed goal. He also offers sound and original advice on adapting to the particular demands of television and film, playing difficult emotional scenes, tackling the Shakespearean and other great roles, and more. His book will find an eager and appreciative audience among novices and established actors alike.