Grotowski – Poor Theatre

Theatre cannot exist without the actor-spectator relationship of perceptual, direct, “live”
communion

The essential concern is finding the proper spectator-actor relationship for each type
of performance

• Actors can

o Play among the audiences, directly contacting the audience giving it

a passive role in the drama

 Byron’s Cain, Kalidasa’s Shakuntala

o Build structures among the audiences and thus include them to a

sense of the pressure and congestions and limitation of space

 Wyspianski’s Akropolis

o Play among the audiences and ignore them, looking through them

 Audiences may be separated from the actors

• i.e. by a high fence, over which only their heads

protrude. From this slanted perspective, they look down on the
actors as if watching animals in a ring or like medical students
watching an operation

 Calderon’s The Constant Prince

• It can exist without make-up, autonomic costume & scenography, w/o a separate
performance area (stage), w/o lighting & sound effect, etc.

One truth in theatre: Communication between audience and actor

(Rich Theatre = Use of multimedia)

Grotowski

• Actors are the life of the theatre

o Using only their body and craft

• The piece is interpreted from the actor’s point of view

• Portrayal of realistic life etc. but not in realistic ways (stylized to an extent)

o Highly stylized gestures (not so much of realism)

• Makes sure that the audiences get the signs

o Clear of the signs placed on the stage

o Concerned with the theme but not concerned with how the actors do it

 Wants to impact the audiences

• Immediate response/physical reaction from the audiences when

they see the play

• Hieroglyphic signs of the oriental theatre are inflexible (disagreement with Artaud)

• Wants his audience to come out feeling alive

3 Concepts
1. Notion: Conjunctio Oppositorum (Contradiction)

• Bringing together opposite forces in order to create a unified whole

o To stimulate a process of self revelation

o Going in to the self conscious

o Moving in to move out

o i.e. east + west

2. Method: Via Negativa

• Single act (not group activity)

• Influenced by Zeami – a state which one doesn’t want to do it but refrains from not
doing it

o Between impulse and action etc.

• Seeks the causes behind the negative forces so as to find better communication

o So the actor is aware of himself

o The forms of common “natural” behaviors obscures the truth

 At a moment of physic shock, a moment of terror, of mortal danger or

tremendous joy, a man does not behave “naturally”

• A man in an elevated spiritual state uses rhythmically

articulated signs, begins to dance, to sing.

o A sign, not a common gesture is the elementary integer

of expression for us

(grotowski’s infatuation with signs being clear on stage

for audiences)

3. Objective: Total Act

• Crux of actor’s arch

• Actor’s body cease to be an obstacle to direct communication with the audience

o Does not distinguish between character and self

 Fused together => full immersion, forgetting oneself

 In order to compel the audiences, the actors must first be uncompelled

o Need to be spontaneous but need to have self-discipline

(spontaneity & discipline are the basic aspects of an actor’s work)

o Natural inclinations from heart are not enough

 Must have both judgment/thought and self-control

(natural instinct, self control and own thinking)

Artaud – Theatre of Cruelty
• The cruelty it takes for actors to completely strip away their masks and show an
audience a truth that they do not want to see.

o Artaud hoped by showing images of man’s cruelty to man, audience

members would experience a form of delirium (A temporary state of mental
confusion and fluctuating consciousness resulting from shock) whereby they
would experience trances and inspiration, leading to personal change

 meant to inspire transformation and change on the micro- or individual

level

o To evacuate deeper mentality which hides behind gestures and signs:

Exorcism

• Cruelty signifies

o Rigor, Implacable intention and decision, Irreversible and absolute

Determination

• The only real theatre is expression in space

o Halfway between gesture & thought (unique language)

• To capture ideas like creation, chaos => cosmic nature

• The value of dreams => only descriptive of the outside world

• Plot: No acting of a written fact. Retain only the characters, periods etc. strip of the
text

o We will not act written plays but will attempt to stage productions
straight from subjects, facts or known works.

o The type and layout of the auditorium itself governs the show as no theme,
however vast, is precluded to us

• Inspired by Oriental theatre, particularly the Balinese theatre.

o The design of the sets (masks hung on walls) and the way the actors would
use the physical resources on the stage around them left no theatrical
possibility unturned – utilizing music, props, movement and gesture to
full capacities.

o Artaud felt that the Western theatre needed to adopt these abilities.
• actors on the stage are not acting at all, but are feeling true emotion, and are
showing authentic spontaneous impulses

o the show's success depends on the effectiveness of his acting,

o as well as a kind of neutral, pliant factor since he is rigorously denied any

individual initiative. Besides, this is a field where there are no exact rules.

o And there is a wide margin dividing 1a man from an instrument between an

actor required to give nothing more than a certain number of sobs and 2one
who has to deliver a speech, using his own powers of persuasion.

o wanted life to be spontaneous, authentic, primitive, and wild, he lived

these emotions out on the stage

• Irreproducibility.

o no singular moment in life can be reproduced:

 “an expression does not have the same value twice…all words,
once spoken, are dead and function only at the moment they
are uttered”

 a genuine expression can never be repeated twice

 therefore, a true expression cannot be repeated twice by an actor,

and

 cannot even be interpreted the same way between two people,

since everyone holds an utterly distinct subjective filter within their
subconscious

• The show will be coded from start to finish, like a language.

o no moves will be wasted, all obeying a rhythm, every character being

typified to the limit, each gesture, feature and costume to appear as so
many shafts of light

• Spectacular visual image -> entertainment but it will change your life
7 Elements
1. The Spectacle

• Every show will contain physical, objective elements perceptible to all

• Visual impact (emotional impact)

o Movement, prop language

o Body language was very important because he wanted his actors to transmit
feelings or ideas in a metaphoric way; almost without speaking

• Cries and groans, surprises, costumes from rituals, the physical lighting not to
illuminate but simulating the sensations to create heat & cold

2. The Misc-en-scene

• Text does not capture MES

• Should be a part of departure

3. The Language of the Stage

• Words spoken on the stage will then have the power they possess in dreams

o no not intend to do away with dialogue, but to give words something of the
significance they have in dreams

• Transcribe words into music notations/sounds or code

o this coding and musical notation will be valuable as a means of vocal

transcription

• can obviously take our inspiration from hieroglyphic (a figure or symbol with a
hidden meaning) characters not only to transcribe these signs legibly so that they
can be reproduced at will, but to compose exact symbols on stage that are
immediately legible.

• Facial expression should be a mask

o New language not subjugated to text

• Action will remain the center of the play, but its purpose is to reveal the presence of
extraordinary forces in man.

o The metteur-en-scène becomes a kind of magician, a holy man, in a sense,

because he calls to life themes that are not purely human
4. Musical Instruments

• Treated as objects, part of the set

• Need to act deeply and direct on our sensibility through the senses, and
from the point of view of sound they invite research into utterly unusual sound
properties and vibrations which present-day musical instruments do not possess,
urging us to use ancient or forgotten instruments or to invent new ones.

• Apart from music, research is also needed into instruments and appliances
based on refining and new alloys which can reach a new scale in the octave
and produce an unbearably piercing sound or noise.

5. Lightings & Costumes

• Not psychologically real. Should be in a wave etc.

o Produce light quality of music notes.

 The lighting equipment currently in use in the theatre is no longer

adequate. The particular action of light on the mind comes into play,
we must discover oscillating light effects, new ways of diffusing
lighting in waves, sheet lighting like a flight of fire-arrows. Fineness,
density and opacity factors must be reintroduced into lighting, so as to
produce special tonal properties, sensations of heat, cold,
anger, fear and so on.

• i.e. Sensation of heat & cold, hunger etc.

 costumes should be old

• Modern dress will be avoided as much as possible not

because of a fetishistic superstition for the past, but because it
is perfectly obvious certain age-old costumes of ritual
intent, although they were once fashionable, retain a
revealing beauty and appearance because of their
closeness to the traditions that gave rise to them.
6. The Stage – The Auditorium

• Direct contact will be established between the audience and the show, between
actors and audience, from the very fact that the audience is seated in the center
of the action, is encircled and furrowed by it. This encirclement comes from the
shape of the house itself. Abandoning the architecture of present-day theaters, we
will rent some kind of barn or hangar rebuilt along lines culminating in the
architecture of some churches, holy places, or certain Tibetan temples. However, a
central site will be retained which, without acting as a stage properly
speaking, enables the body of the action to be concentrated and brought to
a climax whenever necessary.

• Just one single side

o Airport hanger, farm barns etc

• Audiences should be put on mobile chairs so they can move around

• Different gallery

7. Objects – Masks – Accessories

• Use of large masks

• No set, set functions taken by heliographic, mannequins that are 10ft high

o No decor. Hieroglyphic characters, costume, tan meter high effigies of King Lear's
beard in the storm, musical instruments as tall as men, objects of unknown form and
purpose are enough to fulfill this function

• Puppets, huge masks, objects of strange proportions appear by the same

right as verbal imagery, stressing the physical aspect of all imagery and
expression - with the corollary (result) that all are requiring a stereotyped
physical representation will be discarded or disguised
Schechner – Environmental Theatre
Schechner

• Overlaps

• Do away with frames

• Frames of performance can change anytime during the play

• Surrounds/happens around the audiences

6 Axioms
1. The Theatrical Event is a Set of Related Transactions

• The relational concept of theatre (Social rituals & Flashmobs)

• Primary

o Among Performers

o Among members of Audience

 Orthodox theatre has strict rules/behaviors for audiences

• ET: Line between audiences & performers not clear.

Dynamics among audiences will keep shifting.

o Between Performers & Audience

 Normally: audiences empathizes with characters

• Secondary

o Between production elements

 Set, costumes, etc. Need not support the performance

o Between production elements & spectators

 Create performance with their own elements

 Not necessarily just support the performance

 I.e. Wild Rice’s Animal Farm = Phillp Tan > Percussionist

• A performance on its own

o Between the total production & the space(s) where it takes place

 Spectators part of the performance

2. All the Spaces is used for the Performance

o Entire space is a performance area

 Street demonstrations

 Systematic change between performance and space

• Bali

o whole village participates

o Village becomes the performance space

• Social Rituals

o Recap of social experiences of performers

 blurring everyday life & play

• Performers are mobile

o Movements don’t stay in one spot

o Spectators move along with performers

 Have a variety of perspectives

• Body contact with performers

3. The Theatrical event can take place in Either a Totally Transformed Space or a
“Found Space”

• Transformed Space

o What one can do with a space

o Creating an environment by transforming a space

o Producers have more control over audience

o No fix sitting

o Action painting > collage > inter-media happening > environmental theatre

o Action collage: action pictures > Canvas as an event <America action painters

o I.e. NOG’s “Victim of Duty”

 A large room served as the stage

 Audiences are part of the play in the room

• “Found Space”

o Acceptance of a given space

 Not to transform or disguise the space

 Small modifications

o Negotiating with the environment

o Spectators more control over performance

o No fix sitting

o Schechner’s Guerilla Warfare

 28 October ‘67 > 23 locations in NY

o Demonstrations

 Anti-war demonstration

• At recruiting center at Times Sq

• Port Authority Bus Terminal

4. Focus is Flexible and Variable

• Orthodox theatre: single focus > most important/pivotal part of the stage

• Environmental Theatre

o Multi focus

 More than one event happening at the same time

• Fighting for spectator’s focus/attention

 Spectator can choose what to focus on

• No single coherent statement

 No spectator can focus on everything

 Not all actions have rich meanings

 Intellectual kaleidoscope

o Local focus

 Only a fraction of spectators can see or hear them

 Other spectators are aware of something happening but they don’t get
the gist of it

 i.e. A kind of intermission

• actor may wisper something to some/a handful of spectators

(indication of intermission)

5. All Production elements speak their own language

• All elements function “operationally”

• i.e. :Victims of Duty”

o characters can be just part of settings

o John Cage: Musician

o Cunningham: Chorographer

 Music can be “louder” than dance

6. The text need be neither the Starting point nor the Goal of a Production. There may
be no verbal text at all

• Playtext is not really prominent because playtext can be changed during the play

o It is a map with many possible routes

• Not necessarily the most important

• Those making the performance are the most important

• It need not start nor end with a playtext

o Not that there is a playtext but it does not have to start nor end with one
Brecht – Epic Theatre
• Action
• Alienation
• Bertolt
• Brecht
• Change
• Critique
• Wanted changes done in Marxist line

o Propaganda plays

• Social commentary behind plays

• Brecht attempted social change with his epic theater

o Tried to provoke audiences to change society, to overhaul society

o Brecht's belief is that theatre can show how the suffering of those on
stage could be avoided

• the audience is continually reminded that epic theatre gives a report of events.

• Theatre of Illusion

o What we are watching on stage is life itself

o Plays are like they’re “in a fish tank”

o It’s like peeking in a room with “walls” surrounding it

 Watching a slice of life

 The “walls” make the audiences feel safe

o actor explores the character, trying to merge

• Anti-Illusionist Theatre

o Brecht rejects Theatre of Illusion/Aristotelian theatre

 the bourgeois convention of the fourth wall is rejected

• bourgeois theatre

• the fourth wall

• anything which precludes thought, excites emotion or reinforces

capitalist values

o Manifestation of the character’s mind or thinking

o The characters coming alive

 Actor and character existing in the same temporal play

o inner life is of no importance

 The story is the point of interest, not the characters

• Epic vs Dramatic/Aristotelian

o Dramatic Spectator

 Empathizes with what he/she sees

o Epic Spectator

 Forced to see things in a new light

9 Elements
1. Verfremdungseffekt: Alienation Effect

• Forcing the audiences to see things in a new light/perspective

• To discourage audience from identifying with character and so losing

detachment

o To alienate the audiences from what they are used/accustomed to seeing

o The status quo need not be acceptable.

 Skeptical to change (the social custom)

o i.e. A child whose mother remarries, seeing her as wife not just mother, or
whose teacher is prosecuted, seeing him in relation to criminal law,
experiences a V-effekt

2. The Epic Narrative

• The ‘there & then’

o Historization

 the attempt to represent the present event

• Happening at that time

• the audience must be made aware that events are not

present events (happening now), but past events being
represented as narrative

 Suspense is not needed, and the whole can be loosely knit and
episodic –

• each part making sense on its own

• Narrative is loosely & episodic structured

o Each scene is self contained in its own

 Topical, no continuity

 Focusing attention on a central information

within each scene
3. Performance-Audience Relationship

• Critical distance between audience & play

o Does not want the audience to suspend their beliefs during the play

• Dramatic Theatre/Aristotle (Differences with Brecht’s Epic Theatre)

o Prioritizes plot above anything else

 Lures the audience into believing what they watch on the

stage is real

 Undermines the ability to think

4. Lightings, Stage sets & Props

• Theatre brightly lit in illuminate and brilliant white light

• Source not hidden but available to audience

o Changed later to reduce distractions

• Bring in an artificial moon to represent the night

o Unrealistic representations

• Simple stage sets

• A stage should only be a stage

• Props: aims at the importance of it

o The set behind the curtain is suggestive, not realistic;

 that is to say, while very authentic props may be used, (as, say,
Mother Courage's handcart) there will be no elaborate arrangement
of these in a naturalistic stage set.

• The curtain is to be used for the display of titles, captions or comments.

• Placards may be placed in the auditorium, bearing instructions, such as “Don't stare
so romantically” ( from Drums in the Night).

• The music, too, must have a visible source –

o musicians may even be on the stage. Interruptions for songs are announced
or indicated by projection of a title, or flags and trumpets will descend from
the flies.
5. Placards, Projections & Music

• Placards, Projections

o Announce a scene before it takes place

 Scene is foretold

• Audiences focuses on “WHY” it is happening instead of

“WHAT” is happening

o suggest the proper attitude for the audience to adopt

to it

o critical interrogation stance

• “Mother Courage” scene 3

o prefaced by a caption

 “She manages to save her daughter, likewise

her covered cart, but her honest son is killed.”

o The words in red express the playwright's view of

how we should interpret the scene;

 Courage's saving her business at the expense of

her son is meant to prove how contemptible our
actions are made by war.

• Music

o stand alone or in opposition

o Need not enhance the event

 no longer auxiliaries to text, reinforcing it

 Songs are not used to heighten emotions at moments of climax;

o Separation of elements

o Comment on plot/dialogue

 they serve as commentaries, generally leading to a V-effekt

o Not coherent with the play

 Can contradict the plot

• Both the melody and/or the lyrics

• i.e. actor is sad but music is happy

6. Acting: To Demostrate

• Step out of roles to address audiences directly

• Acting is not to identify the character but rather a narrate of the character

• Turned own dialogue into a 3rd person narrative

o actor should not impersonate, but narrate actions of another person

 as if quoting facial gesture and movement

o Brechtian actor must always be in control of his emotions.

o Brecht sees the actor's task as greater than Stanislavsky's merging of

character and actor.

o the actor should show the audience that he has chosen one action, as
opposed to another, he must be aware of the presence of the audience

o Critical distance between actor character and audiences

o Stage directions are narrated

o Practice scenes > helps the actors to understand the play better

o Bridge scenes > omitted in actual play but is done in rehearsals

o Undergoes character identification then moves beyond to corporate social

attitude/judgment in portrayal of character
7. Acting: Gestus (Gist + Gestures)

• Brecht's term for that which expresses basic human attitudes - not merely
“gesture” but all signs of social relations: department, intonation, facial
expression

o expressing social attitudes in clear and stylized ways

• Motives done through the gestures of the actor, the social attitude can be seen

• Recurring action/motive to remind audiences

o Gestures not merely an action but contains social attitudes

 “Mother Courage”

• the constant clipping of the purse

• scene 3

o prefaced by a caption telling the audience what is to

be the important event, in such a way as to suggest the
proper attitude for the audience to adopt to it - for
instance (Scene 3):

o “She manages to save her daughter, likewise her

covered cart, but her honest son is killed.”

o The words in red express the playwright's view of how

we should interpret the scene; Courage's saving her
business at the expense of her son is meant to prove
how contemptible our actions are made by war.

o Episodic is gestus as well

 Not all gestus are social gestus

o Allows certain conclusions to be drawn

o Music as a gestus

 Used to cue a particular mood

 Audiences not used to it

• Alienated

o Propels a certain action to be done

o Subtle use of rhythm pause, parallelism and counterpointing,

8. Lehrstϋcke

• Teaching or dialectic play

o short, parabolic pieces

 written to instruct children, are not attractive to audiences.

 Their simplicity and didacticism makes them austere (severe) to the

point of severity.

o no fixed text and no fixed boundary between actor and audience

 the emphasis in performance shifts to the process rather than the

product produced

 primary purpose, intention, or goal of these performances is for the

actors to acquire attitudes

o Actor = Audience for actor

o Spect-Actor

 a member of the audience who is able to get up onto the stage to

actively intervene in the drama presented

9. Model Books

• Recording exemplary plays & strategies

o Use of recording devices

o minute details are recorded

Stanislavski – Naturalist Theatre
THE SYSTEM - ELEMENTS OF AN ACTION

Stanislavski broke the constituents of naturalistic acting into the following elements:

9 Elements
1. The Magic "If"

• An actor inhabits a fictitious arena - the stage.

o He can't honestly believe in the truth and reality of [not] events on stage,
but he can believe in the possibility of those events

 By using the magic if

• e.g. "What would I do if I were in King Lear's position?"

o This way, he transforms the character's aims into his own - it raises
problems and he will think of efforts to overcome them, leading
naturally to inner impulses and physical actions.

o The magic if is a powerful stimulus to imagination, thought and correctly

executed logical action

o Examples of improvisation-exercises:

 Imagine you have made preparations to go on vacation. What would

you do if someone at your office called to say you must postpone your
trip? Think of the circumstances, see in your mind real persons you
might need to negotiate with, placate (pacify) or disappoint.

2. Given Circumstances

• Definition

o The external environment that affects the psychological and physical

behaviour and action of the character.

• An actor must become familiar with the environment of the play so that he
becomes part of it. All the minutiae (details) of the event and its
circumstances must be studied so that the nuances and color of the action will be
just right.

o I.e. Imagine you are putting on a clean shirt after working a fully day in the
coal mines. Take your time to build the imaginary circumstances.

o I.e. Imagine you are going to a party after work or that there has been a
serious accident in the mine. Concretize in your mind the circumstances.
3. Imagination

• Definition:

o The transformation of the elements in the play into artistic, scenic reality.

• Stanislavski says an actor's imagination must be rich, alert and active. Since a
playwright rarely describes the past or future of his characters and even often
omits details of their present life, an actor must flesh out his character's
biography from beginning to end because knowing how the character grew up
etc shapes an understanding of present motivations and gives substance
and perspective. Otherwise the life the actor portrays will not be complete. Never
imagine vaguely; be concrete. Think of a logical sequence of images.

• A rich imagination also fills out the meanings behind the lines - the subtext.

o Stanislavski says: the spectator comes to the theatre for the subtext;
the text he can read at home.

o A simple phrase like I have a headache - am I thinking this is a symptom of a

serious illness? Or am I feigning a pretext to leave early etc.

o An improv: look at a picture of an unknown person, try to guess his

preferences, tastes, learn to judge from attire etc.
4. Concentration of attention

• Definition:

o the key to public solitude

• Actors of the Moscow Art Theatre, when studying the Stanislavski System, would
spend 10 or 15 minutes in complete silence in order to concentrate.

• Public Solitude - An actor must concentrate focus his attention on stage

objects to offset distracting factors beyond the stage without forgetting his
audience

o The actor acknowledges the presence of the spectator as a creator of

the performance, yet he can feel completely at ease and forget everything
that interferes with stage creativeness.

o To achieve this public solitude - an actor needs fully concentrated

attention on the execution of physical actions.

• To facilitate this Stanislavski introduces circles of attention

o an actor must limit his attention to separate parts of the stage, which
he establishes with the help of objects on stage.

 A small circle of attention: small area that includes the actor at the
centre and perhaps a nearby table with a few things on it.

 A medium circle of attention may include several people and

groups of furniture - an actor should examine this gradually - not
trying to take it in all at once.

 A large circle of attention is everything an actor can see on stage

- the larger the circle, the more difficult it is to keep attention from
dissipating.

• When an actor feels his attention wandering he should immediately direct to

a simple object and concentrate on it - finally he can then redirect his attention,
to a small circle, then to a medium one, then to a large one.

• Concentration is not confined to what an actor sees but extends also to what
he hears and objects in his mind.

• Hence, concentration is very important because the actor often pretends he

can hear & see on stage, where the natural psycho-physical union is broken.
An actor's eye which doesn't see takes the spectators' attention away from
the stage.

• Improv exercises suggested by Stanislavski:

o examine an object that is close; notice its form, lines, colour, detail.
o Then without looking at it, tell what you remember.

o Gradually, cut down the [absorbing] time (allowed for absorbing the
object.)
5. Truth And Belief

• Treating things and persons as if they were what we want the audience to
believe who/what they are.

• After all, truth on stage is different from truth in real life - since everything
on stage is an invention.

• scenic truth - making the audience believe what he wants them to believe.

o An actor is not to believe he really is King Lear but if his fellow actor is playing
his father, he can still treat him as his father.

• Once again, Stanislavski believes there are varieties of truth - uninteresting truth
as well as unusual/interesting truth.

o In executing his actions, an actor must look for the true yet unexpected
at the same time. To find such unusual forms of truth, an actor must see,
watch, observe, & absorb all possible impressions.

• Physical actions without the help of any objects (e.g. with air) also develop an
actor's concentration, feelings of truth and belief and a sense of the right
measure.

• Stanislavski's recommended improv.s for engendering truth and belief include:

o Drinking a liquid - first as hot tea, as cocktail, and as poison.

o Treating a chair as a vicious dog, a throne, a seat in a spaceship. . .

o Improv.s without objects - raise a pail full of water, raise an empty pail,
thread a needle.
6. Communion

• The awareness of the mutual relationship with external presences.

• An honest, unbroken communion between fellow actors holds the spectator's

attention and makes them part of what they see.

• Stanislavski insists that, as actors, we must be thoroughly aware of another

actor's presence, and to make sure he hears and understands everything
you tell him or vice versa. That entails "mutual influence".

• If an actor communicates with determination even to a bad actor, the other will
respond. Always remember that verbal action depends on physical action - the
gestures of the body before & after the words must all project what the
words cannot project.

• Even in a monologue when an actor talks to himself on stage, it is possible to be in

communion with himself. Stanislavski makes the brain and the solar plexus the two
centres of our nerves - get them to talk to each other.

• To communicate with an imaginary orbit - an actor must use the magic if

o e.g. ghost of Hamlet's father - imagine what he would do if he saw a ghost.

• An actor should never practice a dialogue without another person. Otherwise

he'll be accustomed to receiving no reaction. Rather, he must continually
respond to changes in intonation from another actor.

• Stanislavski stressed the importance of communion even in crowd scenes.

• Stanislavski would demand from each actor - not only the principals, but even actors
in a crowd without a single line - a detailed biography of the character. This way,
even those actors with no lines will create characters full of inner content and
bring individual life to the stage.

• Communion therefore requires sharp use of the senses.

o GRASP – When the actor’s sees intensely, hears intensely and his body
expresses those mental processes

• An improv exercise to engender communion: 2 secret agents meet in a public place;

one has to hold an important secret document to the other. There is a detective
watching them. Try to pass over the document without getting caught. You
must attract your partner's attention and make sure he understands your
instructions. Then react appropriately to his behaviour while being aware of
situational contingencies.
7. ADAPTATION

• The overcoming of a physical obstacle in achieving an aim.

• First, the actor has an aim in mind, then he needs to assess the qualities of the
person with whom he has to deal; finally he will think of an adaptation.

• An adaptation assumes the 3 questions: "How do I do it?" "What do I do?" "Why do

I do?"

• Remember that in real life we may have determined the aim & action
beforehand, but the adaptation will depend on the partner's behaviour and
other obstacles encountered.

o E.g. you want to ask a friend for some money he has borrowed but when you
see him, other situations like his telling you a sob-story etc might make you
change your approach.

• Adaptation is an especially effective means of communion between actors on

stage - one must be well aware of that person's presence and personality, in
order to adjust oneself to him.

• New conditions, a new atmosphere, a new place etc. all require appropriate
adaptation.

• Moreover, contrasting & unexpected adaptations are impactful

o when the audience expects an actor to scream at another actor but he speaks
softly instead - the effect can be v. powerful.

• Adaptations should be logical in terms of the play's given circumstances. Too

much preoccupation with how before the actor knows what he is doing and why will
lead to superficial adaptations.

• Example of improv exercise: you meet a man you were trying to avoid because you
owe him an explanation. What would you do? Use all possible adaptations to achieve
your aim.
8. Tempo-Rhythm

• A condition for concreteness and truthfulness in the execution of an action.

• Tempo-rhythm refers to the speed & varying intensity of experience during

every minute of our lives.

o E.g. we go to work & we come home in different T-R's. We listen to a pop

song and hear a fire siren in different T-R's. Entering exam hall and
leaving it - also different T-R's.

• Hence every action on stage must be executed in the tempo-rhythm required

in life.

• Correct tempo-rhythm contribute to concentration and keep actor from

being distracted. Tempo-rhythm must correspond to given circumstances

o e.g. an actor cannot act sluggish when energy is required - the truthfulness
of the actor would be lost if it is played too fast or too slow, even though
it may be logical.

• Think in terms of the struggles in a building role and the different means
used in a struggle. Thereby the rhythmic pattern changes. Also, the wrong
tempo-rhythm in one actor unbalances the other actors, & the audience then
doesn't believe.

• E.g. imagine writing a letter to a person you love, and writing one to a creditor - find
the correct tempo-rhythm for each. Alternatively, having breakfast versus running
late for work. What's the correct tempo-rhythm?
9 Emotional Memory

• Transformation of the actor's own experience into that of the character.

• Stanislavski was especially interested in psychology & behavioral sciences, and was
much influenced by the work of a French psychologist Theodule-Armand Ribot, whose
term "affective memory" he used; though by the 1930s he replaced it with emotional
memory.

• Stanislavski believes that an experience of an actor on stage is different from an

experience in life, because the actor is simultaneously living both the character and
the actor creating that character. Yet he can use experiences from his life to inform
the character and transform into that of his character.

• Time, according to Stanislavski, plays a crucial role - it filters & purifies memories of
emotions once experienced and in the process, poeticizes them.

• We must remember that what the actor lives on stage is a "repeated" experience,
not a "primary" one. If actor lives a primary experience there will be real murders on
stage. Instead, the actor stirs a needed emotion within himself by recalling an
analogous emotion from his own life.

• Stanislavski believes that emotional memory retains the imprint of an experience &
also synthesizes feelings of a different nature. For example, the feeling of envy - if
one has felt envious about a classmate getting a better grade, then one can use this
emotion for a character who envies his colleague getting a promotion.

• The actor needs to bring out the imprint of the past experience & make it respond to
the stimulus on stage at that moment.

• Through rehearsals - the actor develops an instinct & conditioned reflex in which his
emotion is stirred through the stage stimulus

• Because it is a repeated rather than primary experience, it doesn't absorb the actor
entirely. Nevertheless the emotion is sincere. Hence, while the actor fully conveys his
character's emotions, he also never forgets he is merely an actor performing.

• There are 2 scenes Stanislavski asks the actor to draw from - his inner life & his
observation of the outside world. We must read, go to the museum, watch people,
etc.
The System:
Method Of Physical Actions

-The Method of Physical Actions formed the later part of Stanislavsky's work.

-Focusing on physical action which stirs the psychological side of the psycho-physical
act.

-From the conscious to the sub-conscious.

- Stanislavski was interested in the work of neurophysiologists Ivan Pavlov and I.M.
Sechenov. From them, Stanislavski believed that internal experiences and their physical
expression are entwined. Hence, he says - the elements of the human soul and the particles
of a human body are indivisible. In short, our rich psychological life - moods, feelings,
intentions, desires etc. are all expressed through physical actions. Science has confirmed
this - neural pathways connect our physical actions with inner emotions.

- Whether it's a shrug of the shoulder or twitch of our lips, our bodies express what we
are thinking/feeling

- But if an actor breaks the psycho-physical union by executing on physical movements,

then his performance is mechanized and untrue.

- Because the stage is a different arena from real life, there is often a break between the
intellectual and physical preparation in the actor's work on the character.

- So it is mandatory to include the body in the psychological process from the beginning.

- However, Stanislavski found out that emotions are credible only when there's a real
reason and since there's nothing real on stage, he faced great difficulty in stirring the actor's
emotions.

- But bearing in mind the mutual influence of psychological and physical behaviour - he
then decided to start the actor's creativity on stage from the physical side - in other words,
from the conscious to the subconscious. This became his system of Method of Physical
Actions.

- Instead of forcing an emotion before going on stage, the actor fulfils a simple, concrete,
purposeful physical action - which stirs the psychological side of the psychophysical act,
thus involving the combination of both.

- Here is where Stanislavski differentiates between PHYSICAL MOVEMENT and PHYSICAL

ACTION. The actor does not go on stage to enact just any physical movement - which is a
purely mechanical act. Rather, he uses physical action, which has a purpose, a psychology.
The action must be carefully selected on the basis of the play's circumstances. It must be
connected with the emotion which the actor must bring out. The building of a character's
logic of physical actions is simultaneously the building of the character's logic and
consecutiveness of emotion.
- How the actor finds the correct physical action involves a great deal of experimentation
through improvisation - hence the improv exercises recommended for each other elements
earlier.

- Through a great deal of preparatory work, the actor must achieve spontaneity- so that
during the performance, none of the prep work is evident and he behaves as in real life.

- Stanislavski superseded a system of "expressive movement" formulated by Francois

Delsarte (1811-1871) who had prescribed gestures for each emotion. But Stanislavski found
no truth in such actions since a human gesture depended on numerous factors - the
environment, circumstances of situation, interlocutor, etc. not so simple and reductive as
Delsarte suggested.

- Stanislavski had some improv exercises for developing the system: - he says always
begin by concentrating & building in your imagination the circumstances in which the action
takes place. WHY you do it; WHERE & WHEN it takes place, etc. Think of all possible details
in each situation. Picture people you know in real life. After you have built the situation, find
physical action that will express what you want to project. Search for that unique physical
action connected to the emotion you want to stir. The action will then trigger the emotion
which enables you to behave in a psycho-physical way.

- E.g. Justify everything you do, whether sitting, standing or walking. Compare sitting in
order to rest with sitting while waiting for news at a hospital or sitting at the window to spy
on what's happening on the house opposite. Likewise, walk to pass the time or walk to
annoy the people in the apartment below.