Stanislavski

 

Stanislavski was a Russian theatre practitioner, director and actor who developed naturalistic performance style known as the Stanislavski method or method acting. The Stanislavski method was based upon his belief that actors must consistently attempt to achieve deep, meaningful and disciplined performances. He believed that actors needed to inhabit authentic emotion while on stage and, to do so, they could draw upon feelings they'd experienced in their own lives. Stanislavski also developed exercises such as creating inner monologues, focusing on objectives and actions e.t.c these exercise  were intended to encourage actors to explore character motivations, giving performances depth and an unassuming naturalism while still paying attention to the parameters of the production. Stanislavski studied how people acted in everyday situations and found a way to replicate this uniqueness and genuineness onto the stage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 10 Commandments 

Creating a realistic character exercise 

 

1) Who are you?

I am an 60 year old, old lady who is a baker at Tsoi Wah Chinese restaurant and specialises in making pineapple buns. My character has two children who have abandoned her as they both married into wealth. Her husband cheated on her and ran away with his mistress after draining her bank account and taking away her pension and life savings forcing her to return to the workforce.

 

2) Where and when are you?

I am living in Shum Shui Po in Hong Kong which is a poor area in the big city. I share my cramped apartment with 4 other people two of which are loud, messy British teenage runaways. I share the 300SQ feet apartment with the others and get to sleep on the bed twice every week. 

 

3) I want to be able to afford my own apartment and have the government give me a higher amount of pension as I am barely able to afford the necessities. 

 

4) To get this I have started working longer shifts at the restaurant and will sell my nights on the bed to my other room mates to get more extra cash for incase i need healthcare or more food one day. 

 

5) If i can't make more money  I wont be able to survive. I called my eldest son for help once and he pretended that it was a wrong number and yelled †ø never call him again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compare and Contrast of Duolouges before and after applying objectives

 

1.  In your own words, write a definition of the following techniques from Stanislavski's System:
 

•  Units-Are a break down of a single scene based on the specific actions or events that will take place on the scene. It is important to name these effectively for example in my case one of my units is titled "Blanche's delusion begins"

 

•  Objectives-An objective is what your character intends to achieve through there actions and behaviour for example I want to be appreciated or I want to be loved. 

 

•  Actions-Actions is what your character does to achieve these objectives for example what movements, facial expressions, body language they use to achieve they objective. 

 

2. Please explain how units, objectives and actions can be used together as part of an actor's characterisation process.

Stanislavski believed in creating theatre with realistic and unique characters, therefore he encouraged his actors to create 3D characters rather than rely on 2D stereotypes. Stan believed that an actor must fully engage with the text to understand its full meaning and be able to perform at their full potential. By using units actors are able to divide up the play and focus specifically on moments that are important to convey to the audience. The actor is also able to gain a deeper understanding of the characters psychological state and be able to figure out what specific dramatic techniques should be employed to convey the character effectively. I found that by using units in my performance I was able to clearly see my characters journey from sanity to madness and this helped me create the most suitable actions that would most effectively be able to communicate this to the audience. Objectives are valuable as it helps the actor understand the intensions their character has, this is important as in order to play the character realistically just like Stan believed, you must fully understand their motives, goals and ambitions and find a way to convey this to the audience. Objectives are also very important to characterisation as it allows the actor to develop the movements and actions that they will incorporate into their performance. After spending time on developing specific objectives for my character it made it a lot easier to come up with movements and gestures for my character to do during my monologue. 

 

3. If available, watch both the videos of your duologue (one prior to creating objectives and actions and applying them to your performance and one after). 

 

• What differences, if any, do you notice between the two performances? Try and notice the details here. E.g. Did your pace of movement change? Did your tone change? In my opinion before we applied the objectives and actions I felt like I did not really understand why my character felt angry about the job as I did not have have any information regarding her background or history. I also did not have any context to when the play was written so everything I performed was just my interpretation of the script. I also felt like my character did not really have a purpose as I was unsure of what specific actions and movements to do, especially towards the beginning as when I go to get coffee and say "Coffee, Coffee, Coffee" I was unsure of what had happened previously and how my character was to deliver the lines therefore I felt like I was only reading off the script instead of being fully committed and creating an in-depth character. I also felt like I was waiting for Anna to react first so I would get some input on how to respond movement wise. I felt like I kind of managed to shift in tone and pace as I began talking slowly but as the monologue progressed I said lines such as "I don't like flowers" in a fast pace to illustrate my characters certainty of her opinion. I feel that after focusing on objectives and actions I fully understood the motives behind my character and how she wanted to be treated equally with males. I also got a sense that my character was a strong, independent woman however I found that by coming up with objectives I was able to dig deeper into understanding my characters motives, ambition as well as her relationships with other characters in the play.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Performance before objectives and actions were applied.

 

 3. As an artist, do you think that creating units, objectives and actions enabled you to create a more realistic character? Explain your answer.

Yes, definitely. I feel like by creating units, objectives and actions we were able to explore our characters and this allowed us to create actions and movements that would be the most realistic and appropriate. For example before we applied the objectives and actions I felt like I was just reading of the script as for a lot of the time I just stood around and did not know what movements would be best as I did not fully understand the purpose and objective of my character in that particular scene. By including units I was able to clearly identify what my character wanted to achieve and what happened in the scene before and after my scene this gave me a sense of context with taught me what movements would be appropriate and what would not for example with Anna's scene I had no idea it was set in a modern time period however in the next scene the two characters discussed the A levels therefore I could infer an approximate time period. In my scene I felt that the performance would have been enhanced if we had more set pieces as my play was set in a house therefore I feel having these set pieces would have made the performance more realistic and effective. I feel that by understanding your characters objectives you are able to understand how your character thinks and why they think or believe a certain thing. Therefore I believe that objectives, units and actions help create unique and realistic performances as, as an actor you understand your character fully. 

 

 

Before Time excersise

 

I am Blanche Dubois I used to be wealthy and a socialite back in Laurel before I lost everything. Now I live with my sister and her Polack of a husband Stanley in Elysian Fields in New Oreleans. I'm a fallen women I've lost my family fortune and my estate. I'm single, I lost my husband to suicide years early. My first memory is playing with my sister stella in our gardens back in Belle Reve. It was so beautiful all the colourful flowers, it was so much better than my new life. I am a Southern Belle soon turning 40 even though I don't like to admit it I haven't gone to school much I never saw the point since I had the looks to get any man I wanted. Some say I'm dainty and frail but I'm elegant and classy, people here woudn't know the difference. I have my sister Stella and shes all the family I have everyone else father, margret and mother there all gone now. I'm all alone just me and Stella. At five Stella and I went to school where we learned how to sucseed in completing the duties of a wife. I never did fancy sewing or cooking in that way I'm nothing like Stella. I mean I knew we could always hire the help. Looking back on it I wish I learned something in school maybe then I'd be able to make something of my self. Maybe then Mitch would love me, I'm all alone with no skills. Back in Laurel I used to be an English teacher until I lost my job when rumors started flying around that I was seeing my student. It was only a matter of time before I lost my job and my reputation was tarnished!