Latest / Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast / Oct 25 Meet Up: From Principle to Performance

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Oct 25 Meet Up: From Principle to Performance · Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hello,
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: everybody,
• 0:04
  and welcome to our Halloween special Zoom meetup focusing on
• 0:11
  Stanislavski and the
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Grade 8 knowledge.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And my plan is to kind of run through the key principles.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's obviously written...
• 0:25
  books and books and books so it will be a very abbreviated
• 0:30
  version but what I think
• 0:31
  are probably the most important ones for students to hold in
• 0:35
  their minds and and
• 0:37
  you may have ideas about um some others that I might have
• 0:42
  missed or different ways
• 0:43
  of interpreting them um but then I was also thinking maybe what
• 0:47
  we should do is
• 0:47
  then look at like practical applications how can we use those
• 0:51
  principles um when
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: actually working with
• 0:56
  in the rehearsal room rather than it being completely
• 0:58
  theoretical for two reasons.
• 1:01
  One is because I think it will help the students understand
• 1:04
  what the point of these
• 1:04
  principles is rather than it just being something that they
• 1:09
  have to try and
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: remember.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And also because the questions are quite practical.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: The first question is how did you prepare
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: What was your process in preparing these characters for performance?
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course, that isn't necessarily a Stanislavski question.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: They can talk about anything that they've used from,
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Laban to,
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: staging ideas or whatever.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: But they can, of course, use Stanislavski's principles.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And also the final question, 5.2, is...
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: How have you been influenced as an actor by Stanislavski's principles?
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  SPEAKER_00: And so,
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  SPEAKER_00: again,
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: it gives them a bit more insight into that to say,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I love using improvisation.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: as part of my rehearsal technique.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that's one of the ways I've been influenced by Stanislaski.
• 1:58
  And of course they don't necessarily have to talk about Lambda
• 2:01
  pieces for that question.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: They could talk about,
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 2:05
  devising projects that they've done maybe for GCSE or for
• 2:10
  festivals or something
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  SPEAKER_00: like that.
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  they could talk about school plays and whether they were
• 2:16
  influenced by Stanislavski
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  SPEAKER_00: in that context as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: So that's my plan for today.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that sounds like what you were hoping for.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: as always,
• 2:33
  you can ask any questions and I will attempt to either answer
• 2:39
  them if I know the
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: answer or deflect if I don't.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: to somebody else.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's a very interesting question.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's open that one up to the group, I will say, if I'm stumped.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: I shouldn't have told you that.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've given away my secret weapon.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to share a slideshow with you now.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are watching the recording, then that will be helpful.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: But hopefully,
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: if you're listening to the podcast instead,
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: then hopefully you will still be able to
• 3:12
  see think about exactly what's going on and i'm just going to
• 3:16
  pin myself so that
• 3:19
  i'm the person that appears in the corner if you're watching
• 3:23
  the uh the recording
• 3:26
  all right so hopefully you can all see me and you can see the
• 3:29
  slideshow um
• 3:33
  I think the first point to make is that Stanislavski was aiming
• 3:39
  for naturalism.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So all of his key principles are the way he achieves that aim.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And by naturalism,
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: we're talking about truthfulness represented on stage,
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: the suspension of disbelief.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: He worked a lot with playwrights like Chekhov, who wrote plays that were
• 4:02
  given realistic settings in people's homes that had real
• 4:07
  everyday characters rather
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: than gods and monsters and fairies.
• 4:11
  They spoke in naturalistic language rather than verse or very
• 4:16
  heightened language.
• 4:17
  There were a lot of the emotions instead of being expressed
• 4:21
  directly were sort of
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: cloaked in innuendo or subtext.
• 4:26
  And he also,
• 4:29
  you know,
• 4:30
  came up with ideas like,
• 4:32
  you know,
• 4:32
  the fourth wall.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was anti direct addresses to the audience.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Up until then,
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  SPEAKER_00: rehearsals had focused primarily on staging,
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: entrances,
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  SPEAKER_00: exits and on demonstrating emotions.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: So,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: Hamlet might say,
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  when I am talking to my mother in this scene or the actor
• 4:57
  playing Hamlet might say,
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: when I'm talking to my mother in this scene,