Test essay
medus...@gmail.com
I would have posted it sooner, but I just got back in contact with an
internet accessible computer...
Theatre in today's society is influenced by many disparate
disciplines and schools of thought. The observant eye may note
qualities and characteristics from Noh theatre, Navajo Blessing Way
Ceremonies, English country dances, Medieval pageantry, Butoh, and
Restoration court comedies on the stage today, as the influences and
inspirations of theatrical arts are infinite. Superceding all these
however, there are two primary schools of thought that exert their
influence on the modern American stage. These are known as "the
Method" and as Epic acting or Epic theatre.
Both of these schools of thought are transplants to American theatre,
having developed in Russia in the early 1800's and post-war Germany
(and Europe), respectively. The first: the ubiquitous "Method"
codified by Konstantin Stanislavsky and reinterpreted by the American
theatrical community led to a number of decades where the American
stage was dominated by an acting style termed psychological realism.
The emphasis in this system of thought is on the internal.
Stanislavsky's tenet that the internal emotional state would influence
the external physical form in a naturalistic manner, thereby
acknowledging credence to both aspects of performance, has often been
forgotten by American method actors. (In fact, Stanislavsky's
formulation of his "Method" was heavily influenced by a number of
physical arts, most notably that of yoga, and he heavily advocated
acting students study ballet and fencing and gymnastics as an integral
part of their training.) Instead, all focus and attention is given
to the internal: mental and emotional states are cultivated through
emotional memory, substitution of self, and exercises in mental
recall. This gives the actor an inner truth, allows them to more than
vicariously experience what their character is going through
psychologically. The goal of this style of acting is to create a
character and a scene that is true to life as we know it, that mirrors
the experiences of the audience, that creates an entirely subjective
and to a large extent unconsious reaction in the minds and hearts of
the audience. This is still the dominant paradigm in American
theatre, but we increasingly see the influences of an episodic style
of theatre on our stage.
Epic theatre was promulgated primarily by a man called Bertolt
Brecht. It relies heavily on a movement theory called Biomechanics
which was promoted by Myerhold (a student of Stanislavsky's
incidentally). Brecht saw the purpose of theatre being that of an
educational tool, something that causes the audience to reflect upon
and analyze the issues being explored onstage. In creating this
effect, he found it necessary to alienate the audience with their
personal histories of experiences from the events in front of them.
To do so he took a clue from the satirists and political cartoonists
of his day and created caricatures. In Epic theatre we see
caricatures of events and people, the goal is not to make us (the
audience) feel, but rather to think. To create this effect Brecht
came up with the concept of episodes - short periods of onstage
actions that can easily be captioned, not dissimilarly to newspaper
headlines. While this simplifies or eliminates the psychological
motivation behind the actions (an intentional effect) it serves to
break it down into easily comprehended and digestable units for the
audience member. Without a focus on the internal reality of the
characters their physical posture and appearance becomes of utmost
importance in expressing who they are - the type of person and the
role they serve in the scene. This is where Biomechanics comes in.
Myerhold came up with a theory through which one expresses one's
character through their movements: chest out, head up if you're proud;
head down, feet shuffling if you're sad; etc. He also incorporated a
concept he called a "master gesture" this being a physicaliztion
unique to your character through which every thing s/he does is
interpreted.
In our scene from "As You Like It" Adam and I have utilized aspects
of both of these styles. We use Method techniques to understand and
motivate our characters, finding for example, memories and experiences
of infatuation and love to inform Rosalind's feelings for Orlando. It
is imperative that the emotional truth found through Method be
employed when doing Shakespeare, merely because of the language. It
is so far removed from what the average person is used to hearing that
all sense and meaning will be lost if that emotional connection that
can carry the truth of the words is not found. Without this, it
degenerates to cardboard cutouts declaiming unintelligibly onstage.
We also use a number of devices that might be ascribed to a Brechtian
sense of epic theatre. This is partially due to the nature of
Shakespeare. While many classic and modern American plays are/were
written by playwrights who function within the sphere of psychological
realism, making it harder to employ Brechtian techniques, Shakespeare
functions outside of these limitations. Shakespeare was writing for a
theatre far different from ours, a theatre where audience interaction
(in the form of rotten tomatoes and howling shouts) was the name of
the game, where direct addresses and asides -both classic Brechtian
forms of alienation- were the norm. Using these concrete forms
already found in the script, it is merely a matter of finding the fun
of the scene. Physical vignettes such as Orlando's fake death spasms
bridge the gap from emotional reality to episodes. Shakespeare gives
us the reason of his death: Rosalind no longer loves him, so it is not
the entirely unmotivated action of a strict episodic unit, yet that
lack of love is only supposed, and the action therefore falls halfway
between a reaction and a caper. This particular scene is uniquely
suited to the use of biomechanical techniques as both Rosalind and
Orlando have different personas which they inhabit and use throughout
the scene. It is no surprise that this biomechanical adaptability is
to be found in a Shakespearean comedy. Shakespeare was greatly
influenced by Italian Commedia Dell' Arte which relies on a a number
of well known figures characterized by their actions and masks.
Commedia artists are the masters of 'master gestures.'