Introduction
This term during actor and text I developed a range of valuable skills and techniques, integral to my process as an actor. The project involved working with a director and fellow actor, Claire Eden, exploring a range of dramatic texts and pairing them with a new technique that corresponds from a practitioner. In this E-portfolio I will reflect upon the techniques I have been taught and the texts I have read over the past 12 weeks. We have worked on analysing the text in different ways and putting the techniques into practice in the rehearsal room. Engaging with the texts both theoretically and practically allowed me to see the work from different perspectives, providing me with the knowledge that has helped with my overall development as an actor.
‘Given Circumstances’ and the ‘Magic If’
One of the first methodologies we looked at was Stanislavski’s techniques of ‘Given Circumstances’ and the ‘Magic If’. ‘ Given circumstances are the facts of the character, provided by the play; Who is the character? Where are they? What is their current situation? This links to the other technique, the ‘Magic If’, if the information is not stated in the play. The ‘Magic If’ is the theory of ‘ if i were my character, how would i react?’. Stanislavski’s methodologies are useful to me as an actor when working on a play based in contemporary realism as they were designed to create natural performances, which is important when performing contemporary text. I used these techniques when we read the play ‘Punk Rock’ by Simon Stephens. Punk Rock is a contemporary play about seven temperamental teenagers preparing for their A-Levels. Some of the themes explored in Punk Rock are classism, homophobia and self destruction. We first sight read the text and I played the character Cissy. This enabled me to scan for the information about Cissy’s personality, relationships and circumstances. I found this beneficial as it then assisted in my understanding of my character and I began to analyse her objectives in the scene. After doing this, I then began to answer the given circumstances of Who is she? Where is she? What has just happened? What is her relationships? And what is her objective? After analysing the given circumstances and objectives of my character, This then changed my initial interpretations of Cissy from just being anxious perfectionist to being a more complex, vulnerable character with a deep need of feeling accepted. Following that, I wrote a paragraph as if I was Cissy, almost like a diary entry, supporting me with getting into my character and her headspace. This exercise allowed me to strengthen my connection with cissy and further informed my acting choices to make them more deliberate, rather than just my impulse in the moment. We then performed the extract and I immediately felt my performance change. I did not feel like I was just performing as Cissy, I felt like I was truly in the headspace of Cissy. My pace felt more hurried, my breathing felt dysregulated. I genuinely felt panicked and that the stakes of the scene felt real, I was striving to achieve my objective. As we were working in a group, I realised that because I was able to make more realistic choices, my scene partners were able to react honestly, which in turn made my response stronger and overall made the scene more realistic and true. I have learned that Stanislavski’s techniques are crucial to my process as an actor in order to ensure that I have a clear understanding of who my character is and what they truly want in life, making my acting choices more authentic and connected to their goals. I feel as if my practice has changed to be more specific and in-depth with my character building, which in my opinion, made my acting more dynamic and confident.
World Building
Another technique we looked at during Actor and Text was world building. World building is understanding the circumstances and the world surrounding the character and how that will influence the actors choices when performing. It is crucial to create believable, real characters.“You cannot afford to confine your studies to the classroom. The universe and all of history is your classroom.” (Adler, 2002). We did this with the play ‘Serious Money’ by Caryl Churchill. Serious Money is about the financial world in Britain during the 1980’s and is a satirical social commentary on corruption, greed and power . When I first read the play I was very unsure and confused with what was happening within the plot, the characters were not making much sense and I generally found the play very hard to follow and understand. I then began my world building research and it all started to make sense. World building is important to my process as an actor because it has helped me with my understanding of the play and the environment it was set in. World building is also gravely important when the play is satirical, in order for the playwright’s intended message to come across and also enhances the characters general relatability to the audience.
After re-reading the play and doing further research on the playwright, Caryl Churchill, who is a politically responsive, feminist playwright. I found this useful, as it allowed me to see the deeper meaning and context of the play, which thus will inform my performance and change my approach to the text. We were then separated into groups and each given a circumstance to research. My group was given ‘Speech and Language’ and then at home we had to do the rest of the world building individually for our characters, for example, I found that women in a male dominated workforce during the 1980s had to come across as more masculine and assertive for them to be taken seriously, This informed my acting choice of speaking with a loud volume and lowering my pitch, so that Marylou would be taken seriously by her colleagues. Working collaboratively ensured that our research was correct and encouraged a consolidated approach to our performance. I researched how women were viewed in America and Britain during the 1980s, women’s fashion, and what would be her socioeconomic status. We then had to create a performance of the extract and let our research influence our performance.The competitive nature of the financial world enlightened my choices, because of the high stakes deals the brokers were making, preventing a financial crash. I used an American accent, changed the rhythm of my speech to be more clipped, sat with good posture and moved with more poise. This allowed me to embody Marylou,but also allowed me to enter the headspace of Marylou.
I felt that World Building undeniably improved my performance; having the knowledge of the background of my character and her environment. I found this incredibly useful because my acting choices were then able to be specific and informed.I have now incorporated world building into my process of all of my performances, as it has allowed me to connect with my characters on a deeper level.
This is a video of my group rehearsing our serious money performance.
Objectives
I explored objectives in greater detail while looking at “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. From my world building research I learnt that the main themes explored in the importance of being earnest are duality, deception identity and classism. It is a comedy of manners, exaggerating characters using stereotypes, wit and irony to poke fun at the upper-class audiences at the time of Victorian England. Social status and class affect what the characters objectives are and the tactics they use to achieve them. An Objective in acting is something that the character wants to achieve in the scene, whereas a superobjective is what the character wants to achieve overall in the play. Clear and precise objectives are important in a satirical play, so that the plot and overarching message and themes do not get lost under the comedy aspects of the play. After initially reading the text, When given the task to analyse the extract, I began to look the punctuation used and decipher how that would change my pacing and rhythm of speaking the dialogue. For example, a comma would cause me to interpret my character as stuttering or having a moment of uncertainty, slowing my delivery of the text and altering my posture, whilst a question mark would indicate his nerves rising, therefore causing me to quicken the pace. I then experimented with changing the meaning of the punctuation, especially in regards to my character’s emotional state, allowing me to look at the dialogue from a different perspective which subsequently changed my final performance. I had originally been performing Jack quite quietly and then after doing the objective work and research, I had realised that he is a very driven character who is charismatic, which informed my choice in using large gestures and a warm tone when speaking. I also split the extract into beats. This helped me because it furthered my understanding of the text and made my characters intentions in the scene more clear. Examining the punctuation really helped me in working out what the characters objectives are, as it allowed me to figure out the tone and the characters changing emotions throughout the extract. Although I initially struggled to find the relevance of the task in relation to my performance at first, as I continued on I found it very useful when finally putting the performance on its feet. I then analysed the extract further and discovered three separate objectives for both characters. For Jack, the objectives I found were: to convince, to evoke emotion and to defend. I felt that by discovering this, it allowed me to portray the character of Jack more convincingly because I was able to use tactics like using an assured tone because he was trying to reassure and impress Lady Bracknell and when speaking and using more open body language to come across as more trustworthy when trying to convince. After rehearsing the extract with that research, I began experimenting with how a singular emotion would affect the overall believability of the performance and how it could help my character achieve his objectives. Desperation was the first emotion that I tried. I read the extract as stereotypically desperate as I could. I used a pleading tone with my voice and open body language to express his vulnerability. I felt that this was not very helpful to my final performance as I found that desperation did not work very well with my interpretation of Jack and did not suit any of the sections of the extract. However, I then tried the exercise with the emotion unbothered. I dropped the ends of my sentences, had very loose and fluid body language and used a very neutral facial expression throughout the reading. I found this was incredibly useful during the first few lines of the extract, when Jack is giving short, non-complex answers to Lady Bracknell’s questioning. Overall, the technique of examining objectives and playing with the use of different emotions is useful to my process of creating a dynamic, believable character.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this Actor and Text project has been majorly influential to my process as an actor and to my overall knowledge and plays. My skillset when creating and performing a truthful, honest character has been immensely expanded and I know that I have learned many different ways to confidently approach and analyse a script. I have strengthened my overall knowledge of different methodologies which has led me to being a more authentic and skillful actor. The technique that I think has impacted my process the most is world building, as it allows me to have empathy for my character and a deeper understanding of them. This project has not only influenced my performance within Actor and Text, but also in all of my lectures and workshops throughout my training.
Word count: 1951 (excluding quotes and bibliography)
Bibliography
Stanislavski, K. (2014). An actor prepares. London: Bloomsbury.
Ates, A. (2023). The Definitive Guide to the Stanislavsky Acting Technique. [online] Backstage. Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/the-definitive-guide-to-the-stanislavsky-acting-technique-65716/.
Stephens, S. (2009). Punk Rock. London: Bloomsbury
Adler, S (2000) The Art of Acting. New York: Applause Books
Churchill, C (2002) Serious Money. London: Bloomsbury
Wilde, O. (2015). The importance of being earnest. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Backstage.com. (2009). What is an Objective? [online] Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/difference-action-objective-intention-63814/.
