Critical Report (Acting)

In Dirty Butterflies, I used my knowledge of Stanislavsky to incorporate a naturalistic style of acting. For example, Stanislavsky’s main aim was to teach actors to feel what their character would be feeling. Despite it being an abstract and confusing piece to grasp, the more research I did on the play and the more we rehearsed it, I learned more about my character and began to understand completely how he would be feeling and thinking. When saying certain lines, I was able to grasp a motive for what I was saying and this made my acting more realistic. In Bliss, the only thing I knew about my character was that I was supposed to be perceived as a needy fan of Celine Dion. I used one of Stanislavsky’s ideas of using my own experiences to create a more realistic performance by remembering exactly how I felt when meeting one of my ‘idols’. I exaggerated this feeling inside of me so I could express it more easily to the audience.

Uta Hagen’s questions for understanding my Given Circumstances also helped me create a more realistic performance in Dirty Butterflies. When thinking about the specifics such as where I was, the time of day and my objectives, it was clear who my character was and I therefor found it easier to put myself in his shoes. I also managed to empathise with his issues and could see his problems from his point of view. For example, other people would find me to be a troubled stalker whereas I managed to see myself as someone to feel sorry for. In Bliss, it was difficult to pinpoint the answers to Uta Hagen’s questions as it was an extremely abstract ensemble performance. However, I knew that I was one of many ‘crazy fans’ and I could answer the biggest question: What does my character want? I clearly wanted to be noticed by Celine Dion in amongst the chaos. Knowing the answer and putting myself in the shoes of someone who wanted that made my performance more realistic.

Throughout the rehearsal process, I learned more acting skills. Practice of trying to come across as a realistic character even in an abstract piece where I had lines that wouldn’t be said in real life gave me the opportunity to use other techniques to present something realistic. The main thing I learned was that I need to fully understand my character especially when performing something abstract such as Dirty Butterflies or Bliss. When I know my character well and put myself in their shoes, the physical movements, facial expressions and stance come naturally. My ensemble skills improved, too. I had more practice performing this way and therefore understood what was meant by the terms complicité, dispondabilité and le jeu. At first I wasn’t sure how a group of performers could feel so ‘connected’ to one another that they could easily work as one. But with the amount of practice we had doing an ensemble piece, I completely understood.

As well as this, I learned that the more I rehearse a piece, the more I understand the whole piece (no matter how abstract) as well as my character and others in the play. I originally thought it would be impossible for me to understand and properly perform the pieces I was given as they were extremely abstract and I didn’t understand at all what was happening in them. However, with research and plenty of rehearsals, I completely grasped the plays and found it easier than expected to perform realistically.

One of my areas for development are to learn my lines earlier. Although I found it reasonably easy to learn them without trying hard (I just learned them the more we rehearsed), I know that I can proceed with understanding the motives of each line quicker if I am confident on them already. Another area for development is to be more specific when answering Uta Hagen’s questions for my character. I found that knowing these answers dramatically improved my confidence when performing as I knew exactly what I would do as my character. However, if I had thought more about not only the answers but why I had chosen them, I feel that my performance would be much better.

I’ve decided that my targets for the next term should be to understand Stanislavsky more. To do this, I will continue to practice his techniques such as using my own life to incorporate real emotions into my performances. If there’s one thing I learned last time, it’s that continued practice of something makes it easier to understand. Therefore, I will also aim to use Uta Hagen’s questions for every single role I am given. And hopefully I can go into more detail with my answers for each question for a further understanding of my character.