Evaluation

Last night we performed our version of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. We rehearsed over six weeks and began by studying the text, breaking it down and looking at context. Our aim was to focus on naturalism for this project, so we looked closely at the work of Stanislavsky and we applied his techniques to our work. In rehearsal we did exercises on emotion memory, relaxation, circles of attention, given circumstances and objectives. We were each given a scene and character to focus on, giving us the opportunity to look closely at it and interpret in our own way.

I think that our performance went well, but because we didn't have very long to rehearse in the space and it was the first time performing it to an audience, there were lots of things to improve on.  The energy levels were good and we kept up the momentum throughout the whole play. However there were some technical issues and some of the scenes weren't rehearsed enough.

The piece began with the audience streaming in; with the whole cast lying on the floor, with our eyes closed. When the audience had settled, a dramatic piece of opera music came on and we began to embody our character from our core. The emotion of our character was first internal, but then we began to channel this emotion with an action, that was first in our hands, and then came into our whole body. This was Stanislavsky's psychological gesture work, were you find an abstract gesture that is a hook into your character; the action should help you to spread the core of your character into your whole body. I think that this was a really effective opening because it helped us, as actors, to embody our character, but was also a very interesting, dramatic scene for the audience to watch, Even if they didn't fully understand the purpose of the gestures, it was still effective because it was being done on a large scale with music, which was interesting and captivating. It fitted with the mood of the play, because the play is full of mystery and deception, much like the strange psychological gestures.

I came into the space a few pages before my scene. When I entered the space I stood behind the audience, facing the wall. During the time I was in the space before I came on stage, I focused on my breathing and releasing all the tension from my body. This was helpful because it allowed me to leave myself behind and become Thea Elvstead, taking on her breathing pattern and physicality. I also went over her intentions and the thoughts that drive her through the scene, which was the desire to find Eilert and make sure he was safe, this being my priority over everything else.  Although it was good to enter the space and centre myself before going on stage, it was quite distracting for the audience to be constantly hearing the doors open and close, during people's scenes. We performed in quite a small space, which didn't have proper seating, so the audience could hear everything going on behind them. If we had performed on a stage, with the seats set back, it would have been easier to come on earlier, without causing as much distraction. I think if we did it again in the same space, it might have been better to have the cast standing behind the audience the whole time, still facing the wall, but it would mean that it was less obvious when the next scene was about to happen and the transitions may have been sharper.

I felt that when I came on stage I had a lot of energy and felt fully present in the scene. I tried to think about proxemics and I felt that I  kept the scene interesting by moving around, but made sure when I moved, I moved for a purpose, although there were a few moments when I was just wondering around, which  felt weakened my performance. I made an effort to take on the notes from the director, the most important was to allow time for your character to feel the emotion before a beat change and before they say the lines. I had some points in my scene where I had a big beat change and I focused on trying to feel the emotion before I said my lines. I felt that I did improve from the run through, however if we had had more time to rehearse I could have made these beat changes much stronger.

Further into my scene I skipped out a few of my lines and answered Hedda with a line that I was supposed to answer her with for another question. This put Sybil, playing Hedda, off for a moment, but we made the pause seem deliberate and she moved on and continued to question me. Although I forgot a line, it showed that we were fully in character and working from our character's instinct and objectives, because we made it work and continued as our characters would. 

I felt that my vocal quality was clear and strong, and I managed to project my voice without straining it. I tried to make my articulation very clear and talk in a posh accent, however if we had had more rehearsal time I feel that I could have developed and improved my accent. I was nervous so I didn't focus on my pace as much as could and in some parts I talked too fast. I could have avoided this by spending more time focusing on my breathing and getting completely relaxed before going on stage. I need to channel my nerves into giving energy on stage, instead of getting my lines out as quickly as possible.

I think that the costume we all wore was very effective and made the play look much more professional. It also brought the audience out of the modern day and into the late 1800's. The costume helped to unite all the characters, because although there were lots of actors playing one character, they were all in a similar costume, which connected them all.

There were some technical issues at the end, when the gunshot didn't go off. Although the gun shot was effective, the actors still reacted in the same way when it didn't go off and they weren't put off by it. If we had more time to prepare, we could have rehearsed more with the sound effects and the person controlling the sound could have got more familiar with the cues.

I think that our version of Hedda Gabler was a good example of a naturalistic piece of theatre. I feel that we managed to portray the intentions of each character clearly and used our own experiences to build our character. We managed to apply Stanislavsky's techniques and use his methods in rehearsal and performance. With more time at the beginning to do a detailed analysis of the text, we only had one or two rehearsals to do this; we could have added more depth to the piece. We needed more time to experiment and try things out, but with the time we had, we gave a strong and powerful performance.

Notes from director

General notes 

• Keep the voice loud, don't drop volume, even in the thoughtful, more internal moments.
• Don't play the emotion, play the objective.
• Have clear and precise pronunciation, use your tongue muscularity.
• Earn the beat changes and pauses- to do this you have to come into the scene with energy and pace, driving your objectives.
• Be confident to pick up your cues and interrupt people- this will come with careful listening and being in the moment.
• Learn the thoughts as much as you learn the lines, if you know the thoughts, the lines will come.
• The characters are very posh, so make sure you have a straight, stiff posture. 
• All the characters have very high stakes, they all have a lot to lose and gain. Make sure that you find your stakes and play them! 
• Find the opposites and contrasts in the text, if you find these the text becomes alive and makes more sense. 
• If you say more than one of the same word, for example 'No, no, no!', make sure you colour the words and make each one different. 

Personal notes 

• Find the nerves that Thea is feeling 
• Find the difference between the outer and inner feelings- on the outside Thea is trying to remain calm, but on the inside she is churned up and panicked
• Drive my objective, which is to find Loevborg and keep him safe. 
• If I forget my lines, I cant come out of character. 
• Feel the beat change from inside, the beat change can't come out of no where. 

Rehearsal 2

Naturalism

• Naturalism is about being completely true to your character. 
• It doesn't mean that you should play your character in a dull and boring way, your character can still be weird and exciting, as long as it is truthful.
• Doing the 'what if' exercise helps to be naturalistic, because it makes you entertain what life is like for your character.
• Part of doing naturalism is making sure that you, as an actor, can observe and experience life, to gain knowledge for characters you may play in the future. 
• Doing a naturalistic performance can only happen if in rehearsal you have tried things out and experimented, working out what thoughts and actions feel the most truthful to your character. 
• You have to work out every element of your character and make sure you now every detail of their life. How do they speak? What opinions do they have? What sort of an upbringing did they have ? etc... 

Emotion Memory

• The most important element of emotion memory is using all your senses because the senses are the direct route to accessing a memory or emotion. 
• It involves tapping into a memory in your life which has similarities to your character, however it is most likely not to be exactly the same situation. For example for my character, Thea, I have never left my husband, but I have experienced losing friends because of conflict, so I could use that memory to understand how Thea feels. 
• The memory doesn't need to be the same as what the character has been through, but it is important that the emotion that was felt is the same and at a similar intensity. 
• You can experiment in the rehearsal room with accessing different memories and different emotions. Emotion memory is for rehearsal, not necessarily for performance, because it helps to develop your character, but when used on stage, actors can sometimes begin to do internal acting, which shuts off the audience. 
• Make sure that you identify the emotion required by the character, before doing the exercise. It has to be the right emotion otherwise  the character goes in the wrong direction. 
• Work out the subtext, otherwise you get caught up with the surface emotion. In order to find out the character's true emotion, you have to dig deeper and look beyond the text on the page. For example, Hedda isn't angry with Tesman, like she appears to be, she is angry with herself for marrying him.
• In order to arouse the emotion during a performance, you must find  an action to go with it. The action will bring it out of your head and onto the stage. 
• Learn how to control the emotion, master it so that it doesn't begin to take over your performance. Make sure you can turn it on and off when you need to. 

Subtext

• Stanislavsky said that only 10% of what is in our head, is said in words, proving that subtext is key to good acting and a lot of acting is internal. 
• Subtext is looking at what is being said underneath the lines, stage directions and been the silences in the play. 
• The internal thoughts found from reading between the lines, mean that there is never a dead moment in the play. even during the silences, your character is constantly thinking and making decisions. Silence is as important as speaking. 
• The characters don't always say what they mean because it adds drama and conflict, but this also means that actors have to study their character in much more detail to work out what they are really feeling. 
• Often, what isn't said is more important than what is said.
• The subtext is the impulse behind every decision and action your character makes, it gives a reason for what is being said. 
• Subtext can be conveyed through body language, eye contact, silence, pause or the disparity between what is being said and what is being thought. 
• Subtext is the key to making the character your own, because you can decide what you think the character is thinking and feeling. It gives you the opportunity to personalise your character.
• When you study the script you can find your own meaning in the words.
• If you can successfully interpret the subtext, you can open a window into the soul and mesmerize the audience. 

Uta Hagen's 9 questions

1) Who am I ?
My name is Thea Elvstead. I am twenty six years old and married to a high sheriff, who is twenty years older than me. I live with my husband and his children, but I barley see my husband. I am cheap labor to him and he only married me because I am convenient to him. My step children's tutor is Eilert Loevborg, who I am in love with. I have some sort of power over him which made him stop drinking and which led him to write his latest book, which I helped with. 

2) What time is it?
It is about 10 o'clock in the morning. I woke up early and hurried over to the Tesman house because I arrived yesterday and am desperate to get in contact with Eilert. It is autumn, September, and the leaves are falling off the trees, the light is bright and it is sunny but the air is cold. It is the late 1800's, which was a time when Norway was flourishing economically and the population was increasing.  

3) Where am I ?
I am in the Tesman household, which is very grand. The house has land around it and is a walking distance from the town. We are in Norway. 
I am standing in the drawing room, which has large windows on three sides of the room. There are two small sofas in front of a grand fireplace. Behind the sofas is a small table, with vases of flowers on it. There is a larger table at the end of the room. 

4) What surrounds me?

I am with Hedda and George Tesman, and they are standing in front of me, Hedda on my right and George on my left. Half way through my scene I sit down and Hedda sits next to me.  

The sofas are  covered in a floral material and the rug in the floor is red, with detailed patterns running through the middle of it; it is something that Tesman and Hedda bought on their honey moon. There are flowers around the room and the table at the end of the room has a blue chine jug in the middle and a tray of glasses next to it. 

5) What is my relationship to the people around me and the things around me?
Tesman used to flirt with me before he met Hedda. We have known each other for many years and about five years ago  he began to bring me flowers and take me out. It stopped very quickly because he went away to do research for a book, then when he came back, he met Hedda. 

I know Hedda because we went to school together. She was two years above me and I was always intimidated by her. 

6) What has just happened?

I have just come from my hotel room where I stayed the night. I rushed to the Tesman's house as soon as I could, as I was so anxious to track down Eilert. 

Yesterday morning I packed a bag of my clothes and most valuable possessions and left my husband's house in the north of the country. I left my old life behind and don't intent to ever go back. I found a train that went to where Eilert is and travelled down the country to find him. This was the biggest decision I have ever made and I know that this decision will affect me for the rest of my life. 

7) What do I want? (the objective)

I want to find Eilert. I am desperate to find him and make sure that he is safe. I want to keep him away from any temptation because if he goes back to his drink, he won't care about me any more. I need Eilert to keep me safe, because I have now left my husband and have no security. I also want to make sure the manuscript is safe (our child). 
8) Whats in my way? (the obstacle)

Society's view on the independence of women is my main obstacle. I have left my husband, which is very disapproved of, because women are only seen as their husband's property and get no respect if they are divorced or single. If I was to go out and look for Eilert myself, I may be mistaken for a prostitute and no one would help me because I don't have my husband with me. This is why I must go through George Tesman to find Eilert, because he is a respected man and no one will question him getting in touch with Eilert.  

9) What am I going to do to get what I want? (the action)
What I want is to find Eilert, because I am very concerned about how he will deal with being away from home and having alcohol and other temptations, such a prostitutes, available to him. In order to find Eilert I have to go to the Tesman's house, where I will pretend that my husband has sent me and I will ask George Tesman to write to Eilert and invite him round, so that I can see him and check he hasn't started drinking again. 
I am in love with Eilert and am afraid that if he begins to drink again, he won't want to carry on seeing me and working with me. I need to find him to reassure my self that we can still be together. 

Thea's Diary Entry- What If ...

I went into a room I'd never been in before, to experience how Thea felt when she first arrived off  the train and came into her hotel room, after she found out Hedda and Tesman were still away ...

I'm so alone here. Here in this empty room. Its so quite, so empty. I'm used to having the constant noise of the children and Eilert always talking to me. I've missed him so much this past week. He has consumed my every thought, to the point where I couldn't bear it. He bought me here, I knew I had to follow him, I couldn't doubt my love for him. 
The whole way down on the train, I kept picturing me running into his arms and him holding me, while he reassured me that he would never drink again because he valued our relationship too much. So my heart sank when I stepped off the train into this dismal town, where I knew no one apart from the Tesman family, who weren't even home. I stood at the front door for over an hour, hoping, praying, that they would come home. Eventually I gave up and made my way to the hotel, weeping in desperation the whole way.
So here I am, in this room, alone and desperate. George and Hedda are away, I've left my home and my husband and I have no idea where Eilert is.  I only just managed to get the money together to pay for this room. I have nothing in the world but my undying love for Eilert. I can only hope that I find him tomorrow ... 

Rehearsal 1

Melodrama 
Before Stanislavsky introduced his system, actors in Russia used melodrama to entertain their audience. The personality of the actor was more important than the character being portrayed. 
Melodrama exercise-
We walked around the room and became either a villain, hero or damsel in distress. We then came up with a gesture for each melodramatic character, Each action carried a lot of tension. After this, we got into pairs and were given lines for each character. We had to perform these lines to our partner, highlighting the important words and being as melodramatic as we could, through our gestures and voice. After doing this exercise I could see that performing in a stylized and melodramatic way, automatically becomes very comic and unnatural. There is nothing in the performance that has depth, it is fake and exaggerated. The task highlighted how important character preparation is. 

Before Stanislavsky -

• People would go to the theatre to see their favorite celebrity
• The actors were egotistical and refused to learn their lines 
• Actors demonstrated the character, instead of becoming the character
• Actors portrayed stereotypes and used big gestures 
• The plays were easy to watch
• They showed good and bad, nothing  in between
• People wanted to see the most famous actors
• Scripts were only written for what the audience wanted to hear
• The audience were never challenged
• The plays were conservative
• The government controlled what shows theatres put on
• The actors didn't portray real life or real people 

Naturalism-

Naturalism began as a literary movement and was concerned with real people doing real things. It was looking at its own society, which wasn't being looked at in performance at the time. It was about holing up a mirror to society. It showed reality in all aspects of life. People soon got bored of naturalism, It was becoming too realistic, People wanted to see drama, so realism was introduced.

Relaxation-

• Stanislavsky realized that actors had to be relaxed on stage 
• Relaxation allows you to listen and relax 
• Relaxation encourages imagination 
• Stanislavsky used yoga to practice relaxation with his actors 
• Yoga combines mind, breath and body
• Stanislavsky believed that actors should train themselves physically (dance, yoga etc)
• Actors have to be physically fit, vocally trained and relaxed

My response to Konstantin Stanislavsky by Bella Merlin

After reading this book I understand that Stanislavsky’s system was made up of many different elements, which all come together through rehearsal to create an effective and skilled performance. He came up with his system because he felt that theatre in Russia was getting worse, becoming meaningless and had to be improved. In the late 19th century, theatre was dominated by the ‘star system’ where the audience expected to see the most famous actors on stage. It took Stanislavsky a long time to finish his system, not before he made many mistakes and had done endless rehearsals and performances. He got things wrong first, like when he went through his ‘director dictator’ phase, in which he believed the actors shouldn’t contribute anything and it was all down to the director to tell the actors what to do.

Stanislavsky used the given circumstances in the script to begin to shape the play and the characters. To find the given circumstances you have to ask questions about the character’s past, their situation in the play and their relationship to the other characters. You can find the answers to the questions by searching the script for any clues. Once you’ve found the given circumstances of your character, you can begin to build around them.

Stanislavsky uses the idea of the fourth wall (the invisible wall between the audience and the stage). Stanislavsky felt the actor’s attention should be on the stage and not in the audience, as Stanislavsky was trying to get away from the ‘star system’. I think having this invisible wall makes the action on stage more truthful. However, Stanislavsky still felt that the audience had a vital part to play in live performances. He developed the idea of the fourth wall by using exercises that would improve the actor’s concentration. One of these exercises was abut shifting circles of attention.

Units and objectives are a vital part of Stanislavsky’s system. A play has to be broken down into units, so the actors can more easily understand the play and begin to colour the units with imagination. Once broken down into units, the actors can then find their objectives, which can be found by asking the question ‘what do I want?’ These objectives have to be physical, but should also contain a psychological component. The objective has to be something the actor can believe in, but still needs to be relevant to the character. When Stanislavsky’s actors practiced their objectives, it was an active and emotive process, to avoid it becoming a dry, intellectual process.

The super objective is the overall outcome of the play. It is the actor’s main goal, which all their objectives should fit into. It must unite the actors, the director and the playwright. The  super-objective must encompass the play’s main theme and excite the actor’s inner motive forces. The super-objective is important because if the actors know where they are heading, they can respond more easily if something goes wrong on stage, for example another actor forgets their line. Once the super objective has been carefully identified and all the preparation has been done, that preparation can fall away so that the actors can play ‘in the moment’, the whole time keeping the super objective in mind. Directors often tell their actors to ‘cut 90%’.

One of the components to Stanislavsky’s system is emotional memory. This is where the actor takes an experience from their own life, where they felt the same emotion which is needed from them by their character. The actor shouldn’t try to recreate the emotion, but use colours or some sort of stimulus, to provoke the emotion during the scene. Using emotional memory brings the performances to life and adds depth to the character.

Stanislavsky always used ‘if’ as a tool to make the actors think ‘what would I do if I was in this situation?’ Stanislavsky used ‘if’ to stimulate believable actions from the actors. This technique helps the actor to put themselves in the characters shoes and understand the character’s actions. To practice asking the ‘if’ question, Stanislavsky got his actors to do lots of different improvisations, asking what they would do in different situations.

Stanislavsky uses the idea of ‘grasp’ to engage and entertain the audience.  Stanislavsky said that in order to get the audience in your grasp, the actor has to have a great sense of inner activity. Actors have to be careful not to mistake ‘grasp’ for muscular tension, so by doing exercises in rehearsals, actors can practice their ‘grasp’ on other members of the cast. Actors practice this by communicating with one another by receiving and emitting rays, and paying attention to the physical sensations that arise. By doing this exercise the actors can begin to realise the different feelings between real ‘grasp’ and muscular tension.

I think that Stanislavsky’s method of actor training is very effective. It is complex because it involves so many different components and each one has to be considered and worked on during a rehearsal process. For his system to be truly effective, I think that every component has to be included and nothing can be forgotten. His exercises help focus and relax actors, improve their concentration and work on physicality and imagination. Without Stanislavsky’s system, theatre would be very different to what it is today, because so many actors structure their work around his methods.