Week 4: An Introduction to Active Analysis

Reflections

Reading 

The Complete Staniskavsky Toolkit (pg.17-52)

This introduction to one aspect of Staniskavsky’s acting method was very insightful and interesting. As I am a director who enjoys working with authenticity and casting those with experiences and struggles similar to the characters they are portraying, I find Staniskavsky’s idea of psycho-physicality to be quite appealing. Using the source of personal experience in a role is not enough to fully embody and portray the character as that is only part of the acting experience. The idea of really listening to your scene partners and not only what they are saying but HOW they are saying their lines is extremely important. I think a lot of actors are mainly concerned with listening for their cue and when to come in, when, yes, they should be listening for the cue but also listening to how their cue was set up by the other actor. They should then respond with the appropriate nuances and cadences that reflect the delivery of their scene partner. Overall, I believe that what Staniskavsky teaches is that there is no such thing as being a “natural” when it comes to acting. You can use gut feelings to embrace a character and their dialogue but you have to couple it with many forms of discipline, which it taught. 

Class

First, I would like to say that I think splitting up the class into two groups was really beneficial. I felt like we were able to get more done and have more time to have really great discussions. I think the reading and analysis that my group did with the Lungs scene went really well. We were able to explore many topics that the play brings up such as stereotypical gender roles, pregnancy anxiety, social norms, etc. I also felt like we all came to an agreement when discussing the motives and interworkings of the two characters in the scene. M is only jealous that he can’t be the one to actually experience this pregnancy because he essentially wants the attention that W will get. He also is upset by the fact that W is more successful than him but at the same time doesn’t want to give up his dreams of being a musician. W has a lot of reservations and anxieties about the pregnancy and thinks that M is ridiculous in saying that he wishes he was the one who was able to actually carry the pregnancy. 

As for the implementation of the ensemble exercises that we had to come up with to learn more about the characters and setting of Osage, I also felt that my group worked really well with it. We weren’t able to get through all of the exercises (mine included) but all the ones that we did had a similar approach, yet all felt different. Every exercise had us start by walking around and exploring the space we were in. Then the exercises would branch off into embodying a certain character of our choice and either walking like they would, or acting like they would, or even interacting with others like they would. Although the exercises were all based on a similar foundation, after every one I gained a new understanding of the character, even if I had played the same character. I think it was a great experience and I really enjoyed it.