Stanislavski & Brecht : Performance Theory Essay

Within this essay I will look at how I as a director will approach directing Chekhov, commenting on how I went about choosing the sections of the script I wish to use, why I chose these sections and how. I will then reference Katie Mitchell’s twelve golden rules on working with actors to demonstrate how I will approach my rehearsals and working with the actors. I will then go on to mention how and where the piece will be performed, continuing on to how I will use there lighting, sound and setting finishing with costume.

Which is quite a clear illustration of the purpose or 'role' of stanislavskian actors. Stanislavski set out a way of preparing for a role so that the actor could fulfil his role of pure imitation. He started off by asking the actor to explore the character. He wanted to know what their objective was in each unit of action and what their super objective was. The super objective was the sum of all the units and their objectives.

Improv was always an intimidating faction of theater. Though there is no planning or scripting, no matter when or where the show was it always seemed a labor of love. Something that was worked on for an extreme length of time but really it was formed from the performer's mind only a second before the audience saw it. Even though I have done theater and dance in the past, improv always seemed something that I was never good at. From watching performances, tv programs, or improv workshops, it always looked like an art form that I could never learn or use besides the stage. With last week's class, that all seemed to change. I saw that improv could be used in many different factions of life. Providing new life skills and practices that cam

Stella Adler, famous actress and acting teacher once stated that “the theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation.” Woyzeck by Georg Büchner is a play that perfectly represents Adler’s view on theatre. The plot of the play revolves around a troubled lower class man named Woyzeck, who ultimately murders his lover, Marie. But it is not merely the plot that makes this play align with Adler’s view, rather, it is the naturalistic style of the Woyzeck. Naturalistic theatre examines the human psyche and how one is influenced by nature and nurture. Through Büchner’s use of plot structure and thought, Woyzeck will be directed in a manner that makes the audience realize that human behavior is not simply a byproduct of nature versus nurture, that there is indeed a third option: self-will.

To portray these characters and make them real to the audience, as a group we had to use various theatrical techniques, including the Stanislavskian realistic acting methods and we explored and used a variety of different Brechtian techniques. Our chosen form of "Tragedy" was “War Stories", and

Stanislavsky wrote three novels that discuss his acting method; An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role. These books are from the perspective of a

Stanislavski played a large contribution to the theatrical world, and I believe that he deserves such a prominent place, and should be focused on greatly. He had revolutionized acting styles and helped create methodical acting, which changes how the audience can perceive the actors. While engaging in any form of entertainment, as an audience we search for characters who are relatable and we can see ourselves in them, and I believe that Stanislavski had helped the acting world with that mindset. Although his theories are old and out of date, I still believe that they still hold some relevance to the theatrical world, and with a little tweaking, could still impact and help acting to be better and concise.

The 1936 Soviet musical film--Circus--presents a vibrant, melodramatic production of Soviet propaganda that mainly promotes racial equality and international solidarity of people, both core concepts introduced by the Stalinist constitution (Salys 252). This paper will focus on the grand finale of the film, an event that visually enlightens the viewer with hope through bright lighting, a festive and patriotic musical number and close up shots of an excited and diverse cast. In the form of camerawork that focuses on intense facial expressions and movement, the scene targets the emotional turmoil of society at the time. Through mise-en-scène, Grigori Aleksandrov and Isidor Simkov evoke emotions emphasized by the high-key lighting, which in turn

Bertolt Brecht and Constantin Stanislavski are regarded as two of the most influential practitioners of the twentieth century, both with strong opinions and ideas about the function of the theatre and the actors within it. Both theories are considered useful and are used throughout the world as a means to achieve a good piece of theatre. The fact that both are so well respected is probably the only obvious similarity as their work is almost of complete opposites.

In his book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman (1959) focuses on the self as a staged production in which people actively present themselves to different audiences one encounters. To bolster his conceptualization, Goffman used an interesting metaphor of “all the world’s a stage” (1959, 254). This, he terms as a “dramaturgical approach” (Goffman 1959, 240) in which an actor puts on a show for others; drawing analogies between human behaviors and the theater. Goffman (1959) likens the individual to an actor on stage performing for and with other individuals involved in the situation. Three types of space exist for the actor to perform on, to enact the self, and to interact with others: the front stage, the backstage, the outer region. Goffman (1959) utilizes specific dramaturgical terms such as performance, teams, front and back regions, sign-vehicles, and highlights the process of dramatic realization. These terms will be discussed in the following sections.

“Theatre makes us think about power and the way our society works and it does this with a clear purpose, to make a change.”

I’ll start with Constantin Stanislavski. Stankislavski draws on a point that he liked to see what was going on within the actor, rather than what he was seeing on the outside. He believed that this is what gave the play its life. “To me as a spectator, what was going on inside of you was of much greater interest. Those feelings, drawn from our actual experience, and transferred to our part, are what give life to the play” (Stanislavski 155). Stanislavski also said “…The inner experience came first and was then embodied in an external form” (Stanislavski 155). I believe that internal life does play a big part in acting, as I do also find myself enjoying what is happening to an actor internally. For example, I think it’s extraordinary to see what words do to an

Epic theatre literally means a piece of art derived from the ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation so as to create a relationship with the audience by making the audience play a part in the act of critically analyzing the scenes being performed. Bertolt Brecht elaborates and says “The one tribute we can pay the audience is to treat them as thoroughly intelligent…” (Roland, 2010).

== == == == Stanislavski believed that theatre was about working together, he recognized the need to improve the theatre practice of his time and saw actors needed methods to help them act well and consistently.

In the words of Gay McAuley, “for an activity to be regarded as a performance, it must involve the live presence of the performers and those witnessing it…” (McAuley, 2009, cited in Schechner, 2013, pp.38). This statement recognises the importance of both the actor and the audience for something to truly function as a performance. In addition, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones highlights the significance of the theatrical space and how it can influence an audience stating that “on entering a theatre of any kind, a spectator walks into a specific space, one that is designed to produce a certain reaction or series of responses” (Llewellyn-Jones, 2002, pp.3). The relationship between actor, audience and theatrical space is no less important today than it was at the time of theatre during the Spanish Golden Age and the creation of Commedia dell’arte in Italy. Despite being very close geographically with theatre thriving for both in the same era, sources that explore the social, cultural and historical context of these countries and the theatre styles will bring to light the similarities and differences. This essay will analyse the staging, the behaviour of the audience as well as the challenges the actors faced, and how this directly influenced the relationship between actor, audience and theatrical space.