Part 3-Famous Methods

Part Three- Famous Methods Stanislavski: ● Russian actor ● Developed the Stanislavski method ● Born in 1863 ● Born to a wealthy family who loved theatre ● In 1897, he co-founded the Moscow Art Theatre ● Died in Moscow in 1938 ● Started acting when he was 14 ● He married Maria Perevoshchikova ● He was the founder of a society called the Society of Art and Literature in 1888 - Directed and performed in productions there for nearly a decade ● Traveled to Italy to study in 1910 ● He studied Elanora Duse and Tommaso Salvini and loved how natural their performances felt ● Created First Studio, where young actors would train, in 1912 His Method: ● A technique designed to create believable characters ● Explores motivations ● Naturalistic ● Given Circumstances and The Magic If - Given Circumstances are everything you know and are certain about the scene/show - Who am I? Where am I? What time is it? Who is my family? What’s my name? How old am I? ● Those are all part of the given circumstances ● Knowing them helps you understand your character, as they have an entire world, and they know all of those ● The Magic If - The Magic If asks actors to use the given circumstances in order to imagine what their character might do in any situation - Used to better understand the character - Can also help with improv ● He tells actors to draw emotions from memories and real-life experiences Constantin Stanislavski. Uta Hagen: ● A German actress/theatre teacher ● Has played many lead and ingenue roles ● Made her Broadway debut in The Seagull as Nina ● Born on June 12, 1919 ● In 2004, she died from a stroke ● Born into an artistic family ● Her mother was a trained opera singer ● Her dad was an art professor ● Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London is a place where she studied ● Married actor Jose Ferrer ● Second husband was Herbert Berghof Her Method: ● A practical approach ● Took some of Stanislavski’s work and made it her own ● Wrote a few books: - Respect for Acting - A Challenge For The Actor - A few famous theories ● Substitution- rather than trying to imagine what it would be like to be in the character’s place, relate it to your own life ● For example, even if you haven’t robbed a bank, but you’ve stolen a cookie from the cookie jar, relate your character robbing the bank back to how you felt stealing the cookie ● Be specific about what you’re substituting ● The Three EntrancesWhen you’re waiting to go on stage, anticipate your entrance Don’t be talking or thinking about unrelated things such as what you’re going to eat for dinner ● Instead, be thinking through your three entrances from your character’s perspective: - “What did I just do” - “What am I doing now” - “What is the first thing I want” ● It helps you stay in character and not have nerves before going onstage. ● Endowment- pretending an object is another thing or embellishing it - For example, pretending an empty cup is full onstage ● The Fourth Wall - You will hear things like “don’t break the fourth wall!” when you do theatre - The fourth wall is what your character sees where the audience is The character has no idea the audience is there, so what do they see? - If they’re outside, maybe they see the sky, or a hill, or some trees - If they are inside, maybe they see a couch, or a mirror, or a table ● Uta Hagen believes in preparation ● In substitution, Hagen has stated that the actor should not substitute with something they are uncomfortable talking about and exploring ● Like Stanislavski, she believes the actor should be focused on the character’s objective ● The Nine Questions- Uta Hagen believes that actors should ask themselves the following questions about their characters: - Who am I? - What time is it? - Where am I? - What surrounds me? - What are the given circumstances? - What is my relationship? - What do I want? - What’s in my way? - “What do I do to get what I want?” ● Actors should do this for every situation their character is in ● Be as specific as possible ● Some questions relate to when we learned about objective, obstacle, and tactics ● Helps to better understand the character Anton Chevok: ● Born in 1860 ● Died in 1904 Simonson, R. (2004, January 15). Uta Hagen, Legendary Stage Actress and Teacher, Dead at 84. Retrieved November 27, 2020, from https://www.playbill.com/articl e/uta-hagen-legendary-stageactress-and-teacher-dead-at84-com-117366 ● Russian ● Died in Germany ● Not born wealthy ● In his memories, he didn’t have a good childhood ● He supported himself through his last 3 years of school, as his father had moved the rest of the family to Moscow - He joined them in 1879 ● Became a doctor ● Supported his family ● Slowly began his writing career, starting by writing journals and entertaining other people ● Later became a playwright, writing shows such as The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, and Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov. https://www.biography.com/ writer/anton-chekhov Michael Chevok: ● Nephew of Anton Chevak ● Studied under Stanislavski at the Moscow Art Theatre ● Became director of the second Moscow Art Theater ● Fled Russia in 1928 and toured Europe as a teacher and performer ● His technique is a "psycho-physical" approach ● Connects the body to the imagination ● Connect emotions to physical things Introduction to Michael Chekhov Technique