Spirit: Bridging the Gap Between Actor and Character
Standing
Undergraduate
Type of Proposal
Oral Presentation
Faculty
Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty Sponsor
Prof. Lionel Walsh
Proposal
In Moscow at the turn of the twentieth century, Konstantin Stanislavski developed the technique “Psychological Realism’, which involved the actor using their own past experiences and memories to psychologically fuel a character. Years later, Stanislavski’s pupil, Michael Chekhov, developed his own technique, “Psychophysical Acting”. With this approach, actors use gestures and images inspired by nature, architecture, and myth to develop the psychology of the character, rather than drawing from their personal lives. From Stanislavski and Chekhov, we get two distinct approaches to the actor-character relationship – Stanislavski emphasizes the similarities while Chekhov emphasizes the differences. The gap in the field is not within the techniques themselves, but in the existence of a third, intermediary method. We want to find different ways to keep actors safe while simultaneously allowing them to bring more of their personal artistic taste and creative aesthetic to the work. We are trying to find a balance between the methodologies we have been taught so that actors can bring the essence of themselves to the character without bringing the baggage of their personal experiences, as this is where acting can become quite psychologically dangerous if not done correctly. We are addressing this problem by exploring an exercise called Spirit, which we are currently developing in conjunction with Prof. Lionel Walsh in the Inspired Acting Lab. Thus far we have experienced that Spirit allows for more creative risk, yet more personal safety for the actor. Further research will help us qualify our experiences. Our approach will involve the two researchers each working on monologues from the same two characters while incorporating the Spirit exercise. We will explore how individual Spirits affect the characters differently, which will hopefully make each performance of the monologue unique to the actor. At the same time, we will explore how each researcher transforms between the two characters, which will incorporate Chekhov’s philosophy of complete actor transformation. We will journal our rehearsals, observing how Spirit affects the process. We will also invite a third party evaluator to a final rehearsal to note how Spirit affected our work and identify the differences or similarities between the monologues and characters. We hope to undergo a more enriched artistic experience by creating a common ground between these two methodologies, and add to the ever-growing canon of exercises for character development.
Location
University of Windsor
Grand Challenges
Understanding Borders
Spirit: Bridging the Gap Between Actor and Character
University of Windsor
In Moscow at the turn of the twentieth century, Konstantin Stanislavski developed the technique “Psychological Realism’, which involved the actor using their own past experiences and memories to psychologically fuel a character. Years later, Stanislavski’s pupil, Michael Chekhov, developed his own technique, “Psychophysical Acting”. With this approach, actors use gestures and images inspired by nature, architecture, and myth to develop the psychology of the character, rather than drawing from their personal lives. From Stanislavski and Chekhov, we get two distinct approaches to the actor-character relationship – Stanislavski emphasizes the similarities while Chekhov emphasizes the differences. The gap in the field is not within the techniques themselves, but in the existence of a third, intermediary method. We want to find different ways to keep actors safe while simultaneously allowing them to bring more of their personal artistic taste and creative aesthetic to the work. We are trying to find a balance between the methodologies we have been taught so that actors can bring the essence of themselves to the character without bringing the baggage of their personal experiences, as this is where acting can become quite psychologically dangerous if not done correctly. We are addressing this problem by exploring an exercise called Spirit, which we are currently developing in conjunction with Prof. Lionel Walsh in the Inspired Acting Lab. Thus far we have experienced that Spirit allows for more creative risk, yet more personal safety for the actor. Further research will help us qualify our experiences. Our approach will involve the two researchers each working on monologues from the same two characters while incorporating the Spirit exercise. We will explore how individual Spirits affect the characters differently, which will hopefully make each performance of the monologue unique to the actor. At the same time, we will explore how each researcher transforms between the two characters, which will incorporate Chekhov’s philosophy of complete actor transformation. We will journal our rehearsals, observing how Spirit affects the process. We will also invite a third party evaluator to a final rehearsal to note how Spirit affected our work and identify the differences or similarities between the monologues and characters. We hope to undergo a more enriched artistic experience by creating a common ground between these two methodologies, and add to the ever-growing canon of exercises for character development.