Introduction:
In this introduction, Hagen helps the actor by giving the reader nine questions to ask him or herself. She created a few exercises to help the actors and actresses practice by themselves. She states that when doing these exercises, to not look for “interesting events” and to use real props. She really stresses the importance of rehearsing your lines.
Basic Object Exercises:
• The way that you rehearse should be definite and concise. Practice a lot but when actually performing it, act as if it was impulsive.
• This text helped me to understand Hagen’s form and approach to acting. Whenever I see people act on TV, I think, “wow! It sounds so easy to do what they do” when matter of fact, acting is so hard.
Three Entrances:
• Preparation is key to a good scene
• When acting, don’t ever leave that character. Remain and do what that character is doing from the moment you enter the stage and from the moment you leave the stage.
I agree that practicing and preparing for a play or an acting scene is very important and from my own experiences I understand this because whenever I would not prepare myself for a speech, I would just blow it in class!
Immediacy:
• Being able to improvise when something goes wrong
• Practicing your rehearsing while pretending to find something to improvise helps
I have always been good at improvisations in my life just because I grew up watching “whose line is it anyway?” while it may be comical, it still taught me a few good things about acting. Whenever in a doubtful situation, one that leaves you to substitute things, improvisation will help and the audience may never know
The Fourth Wall:
• Don’t interact with the object
• Don’t place your objects in your a...
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...y just go in there without educating yourself about the history of the 1920s. The way the females walked, talked, dressed, etc. you need to watch how they acted and act in that character relevant to the play. Knowledge on the history can only make the play seem more realistic
Character Action
• Build the behavior that is most logical to each character by changing your endowment of the objects to serve each character, the right way.
This chapter explains how to build a character by changing what we give to the objects to better serve the character. How we perceive things are different to all and by understanding a character totally we can serve each character. While Hagen explains this in the chapter, I still want to approach acting in the “total” realm. I want to immerse myself in every ay possible to understand the actor and essentially become the actor.
With such an abundance of parts to be learned and understood performers had to develop a system to remember everything. There is no exact detailed system to how performers did this than just completely taking time to focus on the part. Hogan provides an example from Michael Kelly‘s Reminiscences that is perfect in showing the focus and discipline performers had to have. “Previous to the opening of the newly constructed Drury lane in the spring of 1794 its acting manager. John Philip Kemble, must clearly have had his mind occupied with countless details: the superintendence of a large crew of house servants and workmen, of finances, of advertising, of preparing a spectacular revival of Macbeth.
In this area of theatre i have learned more about brainstorming, character position, the effectiveness of music, the effectiveness of light and at what darkness and more about character goals and character formation both physical and vocal.
...Acting teacher, Sandy Meisner, described a technique of living truthfully under imaginary circumstances. To do so is to apply Burke’s pentad to an aesthetic performance completely.
Chekhov himself, a renowned actor, used the technique in blockbusters such as Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Spellbound’. The ‘psyco-physical’ approach innovated by Chekhov has been used by many actors such as the Marilyn Monroe, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, and Jack Nicholson (Backstage.com). Actors such as Jack Nicholson, while accepting his Golden Globe Award in 1999 and Anthony Hopkins, during an interview have both admired Chekhov’s psychological Gesture. Currently, the Chekhov technique has started gaining popularity as many actors seem to be interested in approaching Chekhov’s psycho-physical
Erving Goffman, the author of “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.” said “the individual will act so that he intentionally or unintentionally expresses himself and the others will in turn have to be impressed in some way by him.” (Ichheiser 1949, 6-7). The key word in this quote that will help us understand what Goffman means by “performance” is the word act. When you go to the theater or the movies you watch
Erving Goffman said the dramaturgical analysis “would lead us to describe the techniques of impression management employed in a given establishment, the principal problems of impression management in the establishment, and the identity and interrelationship of the several performance teams which operate in the establishment” (240). Goffman compares social interactions with an act, there is the actors, the audience, and the stage. For different plays the actors take on a new role just as with varying groups someone might portray themselves
In this case study I will be investigating the key features of the role and work of the actor Mekhi Phifer. Throughout this case study I will be looking into great detail about Mekhi's Phifer's life and early career , answering the following questions, some of which are ‘what qualifications, training routes and strategies did he take and did he participate in any CPD’,and ‘has he used any practical skills such as planning and responding to qualities needed to succeed in other professions’ and various other questions which may give me a better incite to why and how he decided to become an actor and how he became successful.
In his work, Goffman explains that ‘the self’ is the result of the dramatic interaction between the actor and the audience he or she performs to. There are many aspects of how an individual performs his or her ‘self’. One of the aspects of performing the self that Goffman labels as the ‘front.’ The front involves managing the individual’s impression.
William Shakespeare’s plays have shown some of the most intriguing and insightful acting practices from past to present. The performances of his plays have influenced many actors and companies to abide by the guidelines that were put in place so many years ago. Shakespearean plays are in a sense in a category of their own as they have evolved with the changing times, while staying in similar forms.
Berger and Luckmann’s The Social Construction of Reality and Irving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life analyze human interaction in the context of actions we perform and the meanings that such actions take in social environments. I will analyze Goffman’s account of modification of the “self” through performance within the context of Berger and Luckmann’s hypothesis. The theatrical performance metaphor looks at how socialization and experience affect the use of fronts, expressions, and expressions given off.
production begins, an actor must memorize all lines and cues for the first rehearsal. Once
have to act well so as to show audience with out seeming as if they
... tragedy. I think as a director the acting skills I would use most likely with my actors is to know if they are capable approaching indirect action on stage, I think that’s something that the production will consist of repeatedly. The theme throughout the play is constant illusion of self awareness and others around you. I need an actor who can go on stage and become the place and time. The set would consist of few elements, major obstacles of what I want to get across to the audience, by doing that it won’t take away from the feel of the play and what’s it trying to convey. This is a story of an idealistic son of a corrupt merchant exposes his father’s duplicity, but in the process he destroys the very people he wishes to save. Gregers Werle forces his friends, the Ekdals to confront the truth about their lives, but the truth only serves to wound them further.
Al pacino said, "The actor becomes an emotional athlete. The process is painful - my personal life suffers". In other words, "Acting is simply more than walking out on the stage" as Dr. Stevenson would put it. It is more than just reading the lines. To be a true actor, I believe it takes inner capabilities such as learning life. In all the books I have read, all the chapters we have reviewed in class, and in all honesty…Al Pacino is an actor I cannot forget.
Often, actors fight against the staging or movement direction they are given; actors must be able to justify movement within their own mind in order to perform it authentically. Theater directors must be mindful of both the picturization of a moment and its sincerity; bridging the two can be a difficult task. Nevertheless, it is my job to honor the actor's instincts and create an eye-pleasing visual moment. Approaching this dilemma, I always start