Q.What makes a truthful performance?
A truthful performance can only be achieved when an actor has true understanding of the text/context of the play they are performing. This can be done by reading/watching the play and also doing your own research on the play to gain full understanding of it. Once an actor has done this,then they are able to portray a character that they've developed with their own interpretation. This is very important because having a character that is realtable means that the audience would be more able to connect with the characters and most likely enjoy the play.
When an actor has not done their job it shows in their performance, which could be for a number of reasons.
- not understanding the play / context
- no character development
- no connect to the play itself
- no opinions or interptations
When this is the case the audince can tell straight away because usually the actors would be all over the place with their emotions and have no ture purpose or direction as to where their character is going. Also when an actor has no connection to the character or play it shows because in order for the audince to like your piece, your character has to be able to fit into society because now going to the theatre is all about being able to understand, relate and learn about new things.
Why did Stanislavski encourage relaxation?
We started the lesson with a relaxation task, were we'd all get into semi-suspine and get on all fours to cool off
Stanislavski encouraged relaxation to help his actors acess their emotions eternally so they could acess them easily externally. I think this is a useful technique because it helps actors to be calm and be able to acess and use their emotions more efficiently and have somewhat a level of control. However I do believe that if an actor is not completely relaxed or controlled that doesn't nesicery mean its a bad thing, having a little nerves can be a good thing.
Magic if
On my journey to school I was sitting on the bus next to a young lady and for this excersie the 'magic if' I decided to embody her and develope her as my character. I copyied and exaggerated certain qualities of her. For example she seemed either shy or insurcure with her self, I say this because she had a tendency of fidgeting with her finger/nails, clothes, phone, book and she kept rudely staring at me and other people on the bus. So during the excersie whilst I was walking I kept fixing my clothes, fidgeting with things, constantly looking over my shoulders and having good eye contact with people then looking away really fast when they notice. I walked with quite a slow paste to suggest that I was in a way lost and just drifting away in my own thoughts. I led with my toes because everything else followed my feet were guiding my path and the rest of my body was like it was hiding.
We were then given a number of what if's to respond to ...
- what if you found £20 on the floor
I found £20 on the floor, I noticed it, I looked around and then I picked it up really fast then I looked around again whilst putting it in my bra, then slowly walked away.
-what if you stood in dogs shit
I was walking around the room in my characters normal pace, then I accidentally stood in dogs shit and once I realised I slowly raised my foot up and wiped my shoe on the nearest wall. In the moment I felt like it was the end of the world like why does everything bad happen to me because I felt that the lady I emboyed didn't seem to happy.
- what if you had a cup of coffee spilt all over you
Once someone spilled a cup of coffee on me, I had a melt down and over reacted.
(She's just not that lucky)
- what if you lost your wallet
When I realised that I had lost my wallet I was overwhelmed and very stressed, I started pacing the room and then I started thought tracking my day because I think that that lady on the bus is quite smart a practical and over thinks everything.
Why did Stanislavski use the Magice if?
Stanislavski used the magic if to help actors portray the honest objective of the character and help the actor to. Onced to the character. Through this excersie actors can identify with characters and think/ act through them in every day to day scenarios bringing the characters to life instead of impersonating them.
As an actor how did it get you to think and work?
Trying to embody , understand and relate to someone that you crossed paths with is very interesting because you normally don't take the time out to try and figure someone out or even just really notice the things they do but subconsciously you remember or pick up little things without realising it. I tried my best to relate to the person I had chosen and have some understanding as to how they would do and go about with things. I've learnt by doing this excersie to not over think things and over act because this person who I was being is human too and exists in the same society that I do. So I learnt to make interpretations about how this persons thinks through my own thoughts and experince. This makes it easier for me because I view this excersie as being another version of myself just with different qualities and elements.
We then worked on developing our characters were we worked in pairs developing our giving circumstances were the characters would coexist in society. Stanislavski, given circumstances are when an actor has been given circumstances like location, or what the weather is like and then the actor makes decisions on how they shall act upon the given knowledge.
I think that having the facts of a scene gives you a better understanding of what you should or could be doing in a scene that is relevant to a character or the situation. This helps you to be more truthful in your performance because your more clear on your directions or expectations. Sometimes if your unaware of your given circumstances it can be hard to have a natural flow to your performance because these no certainty to it, no back story, no reason for the things you are doing.
We then did the Want > Do > Feel
I explored the objective for my character. Which was I wanted to get to work, I walked really fast to catch the bus and I felt annoyed and nervous that I was running late to work and there's this guy trying to get my attention.
An objective is knowing why your doing or saying something the goal the reason behind the things you do. This could be for a scene or a sentence. And a super objective is what your trying to gain or show throughout the whole play, film et.
We were then asked to think about the ideas of physical actions for the lines we were saying. This can be quite useful because if you can link logically why you move or do something a certain way it makes a more realistic, believable performance for an audience to enjoy and believe. In my scene I was trying to get to work and a young man kept trying to ask me out and join him for drinks. My lines "no thank you ! I'm trying to get to work" so trying to get this man off of me and walk away worked for me and linked to my lines in an approitate way.
When watching the other groups work, it was clear that everyone had found their own objectives within their scenes because it had a smooth flow and made understandable and believable performance that fitted into today's society, so they were all relatable.
Task - I Love You
When you figure out your objective and actions it can completely change the context of your piece and how you perform it. This is important because there could be so many different stories or scenarios within the text and if you don't figure out your own objective your piece doesn't have any direction.
Me and Josh K found our objective as us being annoying siblings that have a love, hate sort of relationship which can be related to a lot of people.
The cherry Orchard, Act One
Units are small changes of directions that happen within a scene that the actors follows which some times changes the objective in the scene. Having and knowing your units are useful because they give you directions for example if you are going to answer the phone and then start to have and argument over the phone, hung up and storm off. Although it may not say this there's indications through the dialogue that help your judgment on your actions.
What I have learnt that I believe will help me be a better actor is to understand my units, objectives and super objectives because they give your character meaning and propose. Once iam able to do this with any work given to me, my work should be more instinctive and flexible because I'll know what I should be doing because I'll know how to find the information I need to know that will help me.
