Michael Checkhov
Historical Context
·
Born in Russia 1891
o
Great Famine
§
He was part of middle-class family
o
Civil Unrest
§
Socialists vs. Monarchy
·
Assassinations done by Socialists
·
Police Brutality
o
1917 – Tsar was resigning from pressure a
Bolsheviks take over
o
1924 – Soviet Union becomes a dictatorship
·
Warned to leave Russia in 1928
o
His work was too experimental for Soviet
government
·
Worked in Europe from 1928 – 1939
o
Constant threat of war
o
Language barriers
·
Relocated to America in 1939 to avoid war with
Germany
o
Lost male members of theatre group to draft
Influences
·
Known as one of Stanislavsky’s “greatest
students”
o
Developed his ideas of method acting and
naturalism
o
Known more for his deviations on Stanislavsky’s
system
·
Also influenced by his other students – Evgeny
Vakhtangov, a brilliant director
·
Meyerhold was another student of Stanislavsky
but learned more towards no-realist techniques
Techniques
·
There are many Chekhov techniques – no one knows
exactly what they are
·
All founded in energy and becoming the character
·
Psychological gesture
o
Gesture: the inner essence of something
manifested in a physical form
o
Distilling the character down into one or two
gestures to get into character quickly
o
Scaffolding to build upon, not necessarily do it
on stage
§
Not a habit or tick
Collaborations
·
Stanislavsky
·
Meyerhold, Vakhtangov
o
Also Stanislavsky’s students
·
Strasberg, Alder
o
All students in the drama society
Theatre Groups
·
Theatre Studio in Dartington Hall (England
1936-1939)
·
Second Moscow Art Theatre (1924)
·
The Drama Society (taught in the 1940’s)
Antonin Artaud
History
·
Antonin Artaud (1896 – 1948)
o
French dramatist, actor, essayist, poet, theatre
director
o
Lived through both world wars, a time period
when theatre was neglected greatly
§
War period
o
Mental Instability
§
Always went in and out of the mental
institutions
§
Abused by electric chairs at the institutions
§
Later brings worse effects than his original
illness
o
Opium and heroin addiction
o
His insanity is thought to be his method of
creation
o
Influences:
§
Alfred Jarry
·
Obuori Roy – mocking mankind
o
Shakespeare’s Macbeth
§
Van Gough
·
Painter
·
Movement and activeness
§
Sigmund Freud
§
Balinese Dance Theatre (1931)
·
Physicality
·
Trance Theatre
o
Creator of Theatre of Cruelty
·
Theatre of Cruelty
o
Manifestations
o
Use of puppets
§
Reveal something deeper than meaning
o
Paradise Now
·
Idea of spectacle
·
Visually shocking
·
Bring out all the emotions the audience would
feel exposed to
·
Didn’t think words were enough – real emotions
are key
·
Against realistic theatre
o
Against naturalist
o
Thought it was a shallow connection
·
Artaud – thought audience needs to be completely
involved with the play
o
Seating arrangement – chairs would be on stage
Eugene Ionesco
·
Not a realist
o
Literal meaning is not cohesive with the way
object can be used
·
History
o
Parents divorced
o
Spoke French
o
Lived in Romania
o
Younger brother died à problematic childhood
o
Criticizing races and cultures
§
Didn’t say anything about Romania
o
Saw how many artists fall during Nazi movement
·
Influences and inspirations of Eugene Ionesco
o
Identified Franz Kafka,
·
Philosophy
o
Dark elements
§
Believed in theatre of cruelty
o
Absurd
§
Came from religious roots
o
Life has no meaning
o
Criticizes society
§
“I am nobody” à
“yet I am others”
·
People can recognize him
o
Compares himself to others
o
Didn’t always like plays when he was younger à liked fiction
§
Whenever he watched it he was confused
·
Plays
o
Bald Soprano
o
Rhinoceros
§
Normal people have a disease and becomes
rhinoceros slowly
Jerzy Grotowski
·
Historical Context
o
1933 in Rzeszow, Poland (Died 1999)
o
Separated family due to WW11
o
Polish director and Theorist
o
Known for intense actor training processes
§
Believed actors act best when they’re exhausted
o
Created “Poor theatre”
·
Influences
o
Grew up on a farm with Aunt and Uncle
§
Uncle was bishop à
taught about religious awakingings
o
Gave him the idea theatre was sacred to a
director
§
E.g. church is sacred to a bishop
o
Religious à
Catholic
·
Practioner influences
o
Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht
·
Philosophies
o
Rhythm of life characterized by pace, tension, a
feeling of doom
o
Essence of Poor Theatre is to focus on the
interaction between the audience and actors
o
Getting rid of props and costumes and sticking
to the basics
§
Used the actors as props
o
Didn’t like traditional stage
§
Liked old places and buildings
o
Good acting is crucial to good theatre
o
Theatre could never match with film and
television à
should never attempt to do so
·
Theatre Company
o
The Poor Theatre
§
Modern – American
§
Workshops based on Grotowski
Vsevolod Meyerhold
·
History
o
Born
German à
more Russian than German
o
Russia was getting richer and more powerful
o
Middle class family
o
WW1 – Economy in Russia was bad
§
Crippling
§
Stalin – strengthened economy
·
Influences
o
Towards law
o
Saw a production wit Stanlawaski
§
Worked under him about realism
§
Ultimately went against everything he taught him
·
S = built internal
o
Interested in physicality
o
Knew and engineer who helped later on
o
Thought physicality was the most important thing
for character development
§
Built external
·
Philosophy
o
The body is more like a machine
§
Balanced and efficient
§
Industrial language
§
Due to influences from engineer
o
Biomechanics
§
The precision of one
·
Machine
·
Balance
·
Coordinate
·
Expressiveness
·
Playful
·
Discipline
o
All about the body
·
Theatre Groups
o
The New Drama Fellowship – 1902
o
RSFESR-1
§
Supportive of communism
·
Collaborations
o
Didn’t collaborate very much
o
Studied under Stanislavsky
§
Worked together with him after many years
·
Only did 3 shows because he was too bizarre
o
Hired by Vera Komissarhevskaya
§
She thought actors were like his puppets
§
Reputation for being hard to work with
o
Eisenhower - films
·
Heritage
o
Killed by Stalin, his work became taboo
§
Age 66
o
People who worked under him survived and kept it
alive
o
Not as widespread as others
o
Museum theatres
§
House of Meyerhold
§
Center of Theatrical Arts
