I have thoroughly enjoyed discovering different techniques and new works in my lessons with Tyrell and Claire. We began working on ‘The Bear’ (Anton.C, 1888) with Tryell, where we explored the ‘Objectives and Super Objectives’ of a character, something that I found extremely interesting and helpful when connecting to my role. With Claire, we worked with scenes from ‘Love and Information’ (Caryl.C, 2012). Here we focused on given circumstances, and how these could help widen our knowledge of our characters; who were they to us? and why do they project the feelings they did? Focusing on these Stanislavski techniques was a brilliant way to connect further to the characters we were playing, and how we wanted them to be portrayed to an audience.
In our first lesson with Tyrell, we began by looking into the Stanislavski technique ‘Objectives and Super Objectives.’ This concept is a vital tool in creating compelling and authentic performances, helping the actor decipher the character’s specific goals and desires in a scene before they begin acting. If the actor knows what the character wants to achieve in that scene or ‘event,’ then they can create an impact on how the actors around them respond, and how the audience engages with what they are watching. This method is extremely beneficial to some actors and less so to others, but for me I found that through using objectives, I could focus on my characters’ goals and desires in the performance, rather than getting lost in the lines on the page, something that I wanted to work on as I came into these lessons. Stanislavski states that, “When an actor is completely absorbed by some profoundly moving objective so that he throws his whole being passionately into its execution, he reaches a state we call inspiration.” (Carmichael.P, Acting Magazine) This quote is something that I find remarkably interesting to consider while working on a script, making sure that as I recognise what my character wants, I am deepening my emotional connection to the material and subsequently deepening the audience’s emotional connection to my character.
During one of our first exercises, we split into pairs, and taking an extract from Chekhov’s, ‘The Bear’ (1888), we began to consider our objectives for event 2, beginning “Blockhead! Talk too much, that’s your trouble! Jackass!” This scene had two very contrasting characters, Smirnov and Popova, and I found that by deciphering what each person’s aim was in the scene; Smirnov wanting to get money from Popova and Popova wanting Smirnov to leave her alone, the goals naturally led to conflict, with both characters pursuing different objectives. To show Smirnov’s character wanting to gain money, I decided that he should immediately assert dominance through the offering of his hand on the line “Allow me to introduce myself- Smirnov. Grigory Stepanovich Smirnov.” This example of actioning, another of Stanislavski’s methods, helped to ‘build [my] character’s behavior through specific, concrete, performable actions,’ with ‘the best actions [being] achievable on the stage, within the world of the play’ (Carmichael.P , 2023). This, alongside the recognition of both characters’ scene objectives, meant that I could then consider Popova’s response; to get Smirnov to leave- avoiding eye contact in retaliation and therefore expressing her lack of interest and denial toward Smirnov’s ploy. Despite this method working for me, some actors find it inorganic, focusing on the objective and making their performance emotionally inflexible and overly intellectualised as a result. Further to this, misinterpreting the objective can warp the characters’ intentions, swaying from the directors’ vision and stifling the natural interactions between the actors on stage. However, the use of an objective can be found amongst other practices in the musical theatre umbrella, for example in the song ‘Defying Gravity’ from ‘Wicked’ (Shwartz, 2003), you can see the protagonist, Elphaba, using the objective of challenging her oppressors, alongside the action of quite literally ‘defying gravity,’ in order to create the shows climax and clearly show that she is an independent and defiant character.
We also worked on using Super Objectives in these lessons; the central goal of the character and the primary desire that can be seen throughout the plays entirety. “A super-objective can direct and connect an actor’s choice of objectives from scene to scene. The super-objective serves as the final goal that a character wishes to achieve within the script.” (Jason.B, 2013) This Stanislavski method is a great way to relate all of a character’s decisions and behaviours, and despite their objectives changing, still reaching their ultimate goal. In most plays, the super objective is decided by the Playwright or director, and so working on this method allowed me as an actor to make consistent choices in order to stay in the theme of what Chekhov wanted.
We then moved on to working on tactics, whether they were emotional, verbal, physical etc… and broke down each line into a different verb of what we wanted our character to achieve through their actions of vocal tone. For example, on the line opening “Here are the pistols. But before we fight, kindly show me how to use them. I’ve never held a pistol in my life,” I wanted Popova to ‘show,’ ‘convince’ and ‘manipulate’ Smirnov. I did this through using the tactic of emotional manipulation, using the action of batting my eyelids to appear more innocent in order to achieve my overall objective of the scene. Stanislavski finds this method a good way to know what the character you’re playing wants, making sure to not just inform your physicality, but also your tone. “While reading the script, a simple way to nail down your objective and tactics is by using active (or “transitive”) verbs. Is your character trying to start a fight? Choose a verb such as “confront” or “antagonise.” Are they trying to woo a love interest? Go with something like “seduce” or “impress.” (Backstage) This method is something I found very useful, using the ‘given circumstances’ of the scene to support how I wanted to play with the other characters emotions. However, at the beginning of the lesson, me and my partner found it very difficult to defy the difference between actioning and tactics. I have since learnt that with tactics, you are referring to a specific method that a character employs in order to reach an objective, whereas actioning is to break down the scene into different actions so the objective can be reached.
During our first lesson with Claire, we worked on small extracts from the play ‘Love and Information,’ (Churchill, 2012) a play made up of short scenes addressing contemporary issues. Each extract was titled differently, and we began by splitting into pairs and looking at ‘Secret.’ We immediately delved into character analysis, asking questions like ‘what does my character say about themselves?’, ‘What do other characters say about my character?’, ‘What does the playwright say about my character?’ I was partnered with Fin Wisby, and together we read through the text, and discussed what we wanted our ‘secret’ to be. Once we had settled on the idea that my character, who has the secret, had broken their veganism on a night out, we could dive into the questions we had for ourselves at the beginning of the lesson. I personally find that deep character analysis is an essential way of understanding the scene and who we are playing, enabling me to lead a more authentic and complex performance in such a short scene deprived of much context. Many actors prefer to have pieces with context behind them, as without much context, an actor can feel uncertain about a character’s motives, themes and emotional anchors. Lack of context can often lead to an unclear sense of direction, and filling the gaps can be challenging, but with a detailed backstory, an actor can focus on delivering a secure and confident performance without being overwhelmed by ambiguity. However, I feel that I enjoy the creative freedom that a lack of context can bring, leaving room for my imagination so I can decide the direction in which I want my character to go, and how the audience- and other actors- respond to that. Another example of a practitioner, alongside Churchill, who uses more nuanced explanation behind their works, is Anton Chekhov. Like we see in ‘The Bear,’ (Chekhov, 1888) Chekhov’s use of subtext gives the actor creative freedom to delve into what they think the characters backstory could be, and their motivations based on their given circumstances.
In this lesson, and the following lesson, we also thought about the characters ‘who, what, where, when and why.’ After performing the ‘secret’ in our pairs, it was interesting to see how different each piece was made due to having different backstories, and as long as the pair knew who they were, why they were having the interaction and what they they wanted the audience to think or feel, the rest of the questions around the scene could be made up by the audience. These lessons also allowed us to be creative, as we began thinking about different ways we could better connect to our characters. Mood boarding, creating playlists or writing letters to our characters were a few ideas some of my peers found helpful, however, after Finn and I played with a few of these ideas, we found that hot seating was our favorite. Hot seating is “A way of simultaneously focusing everyone’s attention on one character” and allows the actor to “more deeply understand [their] character’s motives, feelings, viewpoint and development.” (Patrice.B, 2018) Finn and I found that the activity was immersive and effective when attempting to deepen our characters’ emotions. This task also helped us think on our feet and work under pressure, responding to questions organically as our characters.
In our last lessons leading up to Christmas, we workshopped different ways of saying each line; where we would add emphasis and where we would change our tone. This exploration of emotion was something I found very helpful when developing my character, as different deliveries brought out different intentions and emotions behind the lines. While working with Liv Clarke on the extract ‘Fired’ (Love and Information, 2012), we found that by workshopping different emotions on each line, we could create a backstory for our characters, and the relationship between them. After trying a few different tones, we decided that we liked the dynamic of my character, who opens with “You can’t come bursting in here and shouting,” to be patronising, and Liv’s character who opens with “You shouldn’t fire people by email.” to be passive aggressive and moody. This led us to the storyline of Liv’s character being a younger colleague, who thinks they are always in the right, verse my character, who has been in the business a long time and has heard the same complaints one too many times. While performing, I felt that the activity helped Liv and I to bounce off each other, with the emotional state and energy changing as a response to the other actor, and this is definitely something I would like to do going forward throughout my time in training.
In conclusion, I feel that having the opportunity to expand my learning and find new skills through my Actor and Text classes with Claire and Tryell has benefited me greatly, and is something I will take forward with me as I grow as an actor. Despite some exercises resonating with me more than others, I found the lessons engaging and interesting, and they have had a significant contribution to the work I create as a performer, both inside these classes, and in others too.
Bibliography:
Carmichael,P., 15 Brilliant Quotes by Konstantin Stanislavski. Acting Magazine [Online]. Available from:
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Alex,A., 2023. The Stanislavsky Method of Acting. Backstage [Online]. Available from:
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Jason,B., 2013. Actions, Objectives and Super-Objectives. Maydays [Online]. Available from:
https://www.themaydays.co.uk/actions-objectives-and-super-objectives/
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Myra,M., 2024. Acting Tactics: How to Embody Your Character’s Objective and Goals. Backstage [Online]. Available from:
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Anton,C., 1888. The Bear. Public-Library [Online]. Available from:
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Caryl,C., 2012. Love and Information. Drama Online [Online]. Available from:
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Patrice,B., 2018. Drama Strategy: Hot-seating. Drama and Theatre [Online]. Available from:
https://www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/content/lesson-plans/drama-strategy-hot-seating/
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