I am looking forward to my next in the room ‘liveday’ workshop here in Galway City which I am running with guest tutor Niall Colleary from ATU Sligo. After the first exuberant ‘liveday’ which I ran with colleague Declan Drohan which focussed on using the Chekhov Technique to connect to ourselves and the audience, this time we are going to spend the day working on connecting to the character and in turn to the other characters in the play.
For this we are mainly going to delve into the psychological gesture, perhaps the signature element of the Michael Chekhov technique. Like all of the elements, pg as it is called, has a phenomenal depth of intricacies and variations, but it revolves around a simple idea, that how and what we feel and the intention of our character, can be illuminated specifically through the body. The wonders of this apparently simple idea can unearth so many choices for the actor. The use of gesture can mushroom out into finding character journeys through scenes and whole plays in addition to our purposes to exploring a particular scene.
Another aspect of this character discovery is the how; how we respond to the other character in the scene with us and what does their gesture (or intention) do to the character we ourselves are playing? Perhaps it even changes the gesture we are doing. But let us imagine that we will not change the gesture for our scene but keep with that same one. Even in a long scene a gesture can hold true (even in a whole play!). It might be more dependent on what qualities or the tempo you invest it with. Let’s consider Macbeth and lady Macbeth in an early scene; do her taunts ( a poking , pushing gesture perhaps) make him contract his energy? If her poking gesture is slow and deliberate how does that affect him? Is that the way she always taunts him, when he is not ‘manly’? Or Does his refusal to act initially make her more grasping and desperate ( more of a reach)? How does this affect their gestures to each other? How does it change the quality of their gesture? The gesture cannot be used like a frantic emotional fuel pump, it needs some flexibility.
In this liveday during the application section of our day we are going to focus specifically on how to take this element of the technique into practise so that we can act naturalistically but with the power of what we have discovered through the psychological gesture, still stay true to the gesture, the character and our interaction with the other actor, ‘ veiling’ to use Chekhov’s term, or concentrating the essence of the gesture within us so it still moves within us. This approach transforms our acting.
Workshops in the room
The first is called Connecting to the Actor/Character, working with Energy/ Pause/ Psychological Gesture using short scenes and short scenes. This workshop will pay especial attention to applying the work. July 9th. 10-4 tutors Max Hafler and Niall Colleary.
The second will be focussing on Connecting to the World of the Play and the Production. which will focus on atmosphere, the Feeling of Form and the Feeling of the Whole. Michael Chekhov believed that whilst there was a different contribution made by actors director and all theatre artists, that somehow there needed to be something of a unified creative vision. It was an essential component to creating a satisfying and powerful piece of theatre. August 13 10-4. Venue NUIG tutor Max Hafler
Each workshop will cost 60€ singly , €100 if you book for both.
email chekhovtpi@gmail.com
If I look at what is happening now in the world, (Boris Johnson got his big majority a few days ago) I get a sense of negativity and gloom but primarily, impending chaos (largely considering the climate emergency and the apparent refusal to make meaningful change). It seems to have created circumstances ripe for dictatorship. In addition, there needs to be a sufficient body of unhappy people who can be utilised as long as the authorities press the right buttons. In such times it is easy to manipulate and enrage a people who see themselves under threat. Fear and Division seem to be effective tools of rulers and that is a place we might consider starting from in our workshop. What is it actually like to live with fear and division all the time? How does that manifest in the actions of characters? By getting in touch with some of these archetypal forces through atmosphere, polarities and archetypes, we can immediately enrich both our acting and the message of the plays. We can thicken it and make it complex without simply sounding angry yet still empower our message to encourage change. It seems to me besides scape-goating (the nation’s problems are always someone else’s fault) another atmosphere that is tapped into is the Potency of the Idealised Past; it is the nurturing of a longing for a perfect past that never really existed; it encourages the view that if only the politicians and their people could turn back the clock there would be a rosy heaven in the country. So the problems, forces and tools used to create a dictatorial Fascist state are dense and complex…. A state turning fascist is like a whole people falling into a thick swamp. Ironically the more grotesque a state becomes it is hard to laugh good-humouredly anymore. There is a humour but it is the cold raucous icy humour which is close to tears.
Max Hafler - Radiating /Receiving 